Scientifi c discourses on chronic pain without organic cause Incorporating gender perspective for pain resignifyng-repoliticizing

Chronic pain, without any organic or physical cause (DC), which in psycho-medical terminology is known as fi bromyalgia, (FM), is diagnosed each year to a considerable number of women in capitalistic societies. Our main interest in the following paper is to go in depth in the elaboration of this symptom, its treatment and the psychosocial effects, both in the social order as well as in the lives of the people who suffer from it. Our main goal in the following paper is to look deeper in the elaboration (conceptualization) of this symptom, its treatment and psychological affects, both in the social order as well as in the lives of the people who suffer from it, we are using linked speeches in Spanish magazines publications. The result has been the emergence of three hegemonic discourse positions: One position “scientist”, one “therapeutic of the conformity” position and one “economic and legalistic” position. Each of these has a specifi c feature, but on the whole, is enhanced, producing effects such as the absence of social context to explain the disease; disregard of gender differences in the management and treatment; the instrumentalization of pain to legitimize their practices and the subjection of women to the “psycho-biomedical” paradigm. In that way, a new signifi cance and politicization of the concept of pain is proposed.

Addressing diversity and inclusion in the early years in conflict-affected societies: A case study of the Media Initiative for Children – Northern Ireland

This article reports on the development and systematic evaluation of an innovative early years programme aimed at encouraging young children to respect differences within a deeply-divided society that is emerging out of a prolonged period of violent conflict. The programme, the Media Initiative for Children – Northern Ireland, has been the product of a partnership between an US-based organisation (the Peace Initiatives Institute) and NIPPA – The Early Years Organisation and has been supported by academic research and the efforts of a range of voluntary and statutory organisations. It has attempted to encourage young children to value diversity and be more inclusive of those who are different to themselves through the use of short cartoons designed for and broadcast on television as well as specially-prepared curricular materials for use in pre-school settings. To date the programme has been delivered through 200 settings to approximately 3,500 pre-school children across Northern Ireland. This article describes how the programme was developed and implemented as well as the rigorous approach taken to evaluating its effects on young children’s attitudes and awareness. Key lessons from this are identified and discussed in relation to future work in this area.

Components of the peptidome and transcriptome persist in lin wa pi: the dried skin of the Heilongjiang brown frog Rana amurensis as used in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Although the ancient practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) utilizes predominantly herbal ingredients, many of which are now the subject of intense scientific scrutiny, significant quantities of animal tissue-derived materials are also employed. Here we have used contemporary molecular techniques to study the material known as lin wa pi, the dried skin of the Heilongjiang brown frog, Rana amurensis, that is used commonly as an ingredient of many medicines, as a general tonic and as a topical antimicrobial/wound dressing. Using a simple technology that has been developed and validated over several years, we have demonstrated that components of both the skin granular gland peptidome and transcriptome persist in this material. Interrogation of the cDNA library constructed from the dried skin by entrapment and amplification of polyadenylated mRNA, using a "shotgun" primer approach and 3'-RACE, resulted in the cloning of cDNAs encoding the precursors of five putative antimicrobial peptides. Two (ranatuerin-2AMa and ranatuerin-2AMb) were obvious homologs of a previously described frog skin peptide family, whereas the remaining three were of sufficient structural novelty to be named amurins 1-3. Mature peptides were each identified in reverse phase HPLC fractions of boiling water extracts of skin and their structures confirmed by MS/MS fragmentation sequencing. Components of traditional Chinese medicines of animal tissue origin may thus contain biologically active peptides that survive the preparation procedures and that may contribute to therapeutic efficacy.