Realizing Abortion Rights at the Margins of Legality in Mexico

ABSTRACT

I analyze the alternative tactics and logics of Las Fuertes, a feminist organization that has taken an “alegal” approach to realizing the human right to abortion in the conservative Mexican state of Guanajuato. Since a series of United Nations agreements throughout the 1990s enshrined reproductive rights as universal human rights, Mexican feminists have adopted the human rights platform as a lobbying tool to pressure the government to reform restrictive abortion laws. This strategy bore fruit in Mexico City, with passage of the historic 2007 abortion legalization. Las Fuertes has leveraged the human rights strategy differently – to justify the direct provision of local abortion accompaniment in a context of near-total abortion criminalization. By directly seizing abortion rights, rather than seeking to implement them through legalistic channels, Las Fuertes has effectively challenged Mexican reproductive governance in an adversarial political environment.     

Elevated prevalence of hepatitis C infection in users of United States veterans medical centers

Several studies suggest veterans have a higher prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection than nonveterans, possibly because of military exposures. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C antibody and evaluate factors associated with infection among users of Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. Using a two-staged cluster sample, 1288 of 3863 randomly selected veterans completed a survey and underwent home-based phlebotomy for serological testing. Administrative and clinical data were used to correct the prevalence estimate for nonparticipation. The prevalence of antihepatitis C antibody among serology participants was 4.0% (95% CI, 2.6%-5.5%). The estimated prevalence in the population of Veterans Affairs medical center users was 5.4% (95% CI, 3.3%-7.5%) after correction for sociodemographic and clinical differences between participants and nonparticipants. Significant predictors of seropositivity included demographic factors, period of military service (e.g., Vietnam era), prior diagnoses, health care use, and lifestyle factors. At least one traditional risk factor (transfusion or intravenous drug use) was reported by 30.2% of all subjects. Among those testing positive for hepatitis C antibody, 78% either had a transfusion or had used injection drugs. Adjusting for injection drug use and nonparticipation, seropositivity was associated with tattoos and incarceration. Military-related exposures were not found to be associated with infection in the adjusted analysis. In conclusion, the prevalence of hepatitis C in these subjects exceeds the estimate from the general US population by more than 2-fold, likely reflecting more exposure to traditional risk factors among these veterans.     

Impaired recycling of synaptic vesicles after acute perturbation of the presynaptic actin cytoskeleton

Actin is an abundant component of nerve terminals that has been implicated at multiple steps of the synaptic vesicle cycle, including reversible anchoring, exocytosis, and recycling of synaptic vesicles. In the present study we used the lamprey reticulospinal synapse to examine the role of actin at the site of synaptic vesicle recycling, the endocytic zone. Compounds interfering with actin function, including phalloidin, the catalytic subunit of Clostridium botulinum C2 toxin, and N-ethylmaleimide-treated myosin S1 fragments were microinjected into the axon. In unstimulated, phalloidin-injected axons actin filaments formed a thin cytomatrix adjacent to the plasma membrane around the synaptic vesicle cluster. The filaments proliferated after stimulation and extended toward the vesicle cluster. Synaptic vesicles were tethered along the filaments. Injection of N-ethylmaleimide-treated myosin S1 fragments caused accumulation of aggregates of synaptic vesicles between the endocytic zone and the vesicle cluster, suggesting that vesicle transport was inhibited. Phalloidin, as well as C2 toxin, also caused changes in the structure of clathrin-coated pits in stimulated synapses. Our data provide evidence for a critical role of actin in recycling of synaptic vesicles, which seems to involve functions both in endocytosis and in the transport of recycled vesicles to the synaptic vesicle cluster.     

Reduction of post-traumatic brain injury and free radical production by inhibition of the caspase-1 cascade

Necrotic and apoptotic cell death both play a role mediating tissue injury following brain trauma. Caspase-1 (interleukin-1beta converting enzyme) is activated and oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation is detected in traumatized brain tissue. Reduction of tissue injury and free radical production following brain trauma was achieved in a transgenic mouse expressing a dominant negative inhibitor of caspase-1 in the brain. Neuroprotection was also conferred by pharmacological inhibition of caspase-1 by intracerebroventricular administration of the selective inhibitor of caspase-1, acetyl-Tyr-Val-Ala-Asp-chloromethyl-ketone or the non-selective caspase inhibitor N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone. These results indicate that inhibition of caspase-1-like caspases reduces trauma-mediated brain tissue injury. In addition, we demonstrate an in vivo functional interaction between interleukin-1beta converting enyzme-like caspases and free radical production pathways, implicating free radical production as a downstream mediator of the caspase cell death cascade.     

Top Ten List of Long‐Term Care Facility Preparations for the Upcoming Influenza Season

A novel influenza A partly of virus of swine origin (2009 H1N1) emerged this spring, resulting in an influenza pandemic. This pandemic is anticipated to continue into the next influenza season. Given that the 2009 H1N1 and seasonal influenza A appear to be somewhat different in the human populations affected and that two influenza vaccines will be recommended this fall, those who manage long‐term care facilities and treat patients in them will be faced with many uncertainties as they approach the 2009/10 influenza season. Ten specific suggestions are offered to those responsible for the care of patients in long‐term care facilities regarding the upcoming influenza season. These practical suggestions are the clinical opinions of the authors and do not represent official recommendations of the American Geriatrics Society or any agency.     

Elevated levels of IgA and IgG2 in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury

ObjectivesTo determine circulating levels of antibodies (IgA, IgM, IgG1-4) in individuals with SCI as compared to uninjured individuals.Study DesignProspective, observational study.SettingOutpatient clinic of a Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and research institute in an academic medical center.ParticipantsIndividuals with chronic (≥ 1 year from injury) SCI and uninjured individuals.Outcome MeasuresSerum antibody titers were determined by commercial multiplex ELISA.ResultsBlood samples were collected from individuals with chronic SCI (N = 29, 83% males) and uninjured individuals (N = 25, 64% males). Among participants with SCI, the distribution of American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grades was: A (n = 15), B (n = 2), C (n = 4), D (n = 8). Neurological levels of injury were: cervical (n = 17), thoracic (n = 10), and lumbar (n = 2). IgA levels were significantly elevated in participants with SCI compared to uninjured participants (median: 1.98 vs. 1.21 mg/ml, P < 0.0001), with levels most elevated in individuals with motor complete injuries compared to uninjured participants (P < 0.0003). IgG2 antibodies were also significantly elevated in participants with SCI compared to uninjured participants (median: 5.98 vs. 4.37 mg/ml, P < 0.018).ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of elevated IgA, the antibody type most prevalent at respiratory, genitourinary and gastrointestinal tracts, common sites of infections in individuals with SCI. IgG2 levels were also elevated in individuals with SCI. These data support further investigations of IgA and other antibody types in individuals with chronic SCI, which may be increasingly important in the context of emerging novel infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2.