A Contextual Analysis of the Council of Europe's Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women

This article examines the Council of Europe’s recent Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women. The focus of this paper is on the specific issue of domestic violence. The article seeks to place the Convention in the context of other developments as regards the analysis of domestic violence as a human rights issue.

Human mesenchymal stem cells reduce mortality and bacteremia in gram-negative sepsis in mice in part by enhancing the phagocytic activity of blood monocytes

The potential therapeutic value of cell-based therapy with mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) has been reported in mouse models of polymicrobial peritoneal sepsis. However, the mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects of MSC have not been well defined. Therefore, we tested the therapeutic effect of intravenous bone marrow-derived human MSC in peritoneal sepsis induced by gram-negative bacteria. At 48 h, survival was significantly increased in mice treated with intravenous MSC compared with control mice treated with intravenous fibroblasts (3T3) or intravenous PBS. There were no significant differences in the levels of TNF-a, macrophage inflammatory protein 2, or IL-10 in the plasma. However, there was a marked reduction in the number of bacterial colony-forming units of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the blood of MSC-treated mice compared with the 3T3 and PBS control groups. In addition, phagocytic activity was increased in blood monocytes isolated from mice treated with MSC compared with the 3T3 and PBS groups. Furthermore, levels of C5a anaphylotoxin were elevated in the blood of mice treated with MSC, a finding that was associated with upregulation of the phagocytosis receptor CD11b on monocytes. The phagocytic activity of neutrophils was not different among the groups. There was also an increase in alternately activated monocytes/macrophages (CD163- and CD206-positive) in the spleen of the MSC-treated mice compared with the two controls. Thus intravenous MSC increased survival from gram-negative peritoneal sepsis, in part by a monocyte-dependent increase in bacterial phagocytosis.

The sympathetic release test: a test used to assess thermoregulation and autonomic control of blood flow

When a subject is heated, the stimulation of temperature-sensitive nerve endings in the skin, and the raising of the central body temperature, results in the reflex release of sympathetic vasoconstrictor tone in the skin of the extremities, causing a measurable temperature increase at the site of release. In the sympathetic release test, the subject is gently heated by placing the feet and calves in a commercially available foot warming pouch or immersing the feet and calves in warm water and wrapping the subject in blankets. Skin blood flow is estimated from measurements of skin temperature in the fingers. Normally skin temperature of the fingers is 65-75 degrees F in cool conditions (environmental temperature: 59-68 degrees F) and rises to 85-95 degrees F during body heating. Deviations in this pattern may mean that there is abnormal sympathetic vasoconstrictor control of skin blood flow. Abnormal skin blood flow can substantially impair an individual's ability to thermoregulate and has important clinical implications. During whole body heating, the skin temperature from three different skin sites is monitored and oral temperature is monitored as an index of core temperature. Students determine the fingertip temperature at which the reflex release of sympathetic activity occurs and its maximal attainment, which reflects the vasodilating capacity of this cutaneous vascular bed. Students should interpret typical sample data for certain clinical conditions (Raynaud's disease, peripheral vascular disease, and postsympathectomy) and explain why there may be altered skin blood flow in these disorders.

An Observational Study of Blood Concentrations and Kinetics of Methyl- and Propyl-Parabens in Neonates

Purpose: Systemic exposure to parabens in the neonatal population, in particular propyl-parabens (PPB), remains a concern. Blood concentrations and kinetics of methyl-parabens (MPB) and PPB were therefore determined in neonates receiving medicines containing these excipients.

Methods: A multi-centre, non-interventional, observational study of excipient-kinetics in neonates. ‘Dried Blood Spot’ samples were collected opportunistically at the same time as routine samples and the observations modelled using a non-linear mixed effects approach.

Results: A total of 841 blood MPB and PPB concentration data were available for evaluation from 181 pre- and term-neonates. Quantifiable blood concentrations of MPB and PPB were observed in 99% and 49% of patients, and 55% and 25% of all concentrations were above limit of detection (10 ng/ml), respectively. Only MPB data was amenable to modelling. Oral bioavailability was influenced by type of formulation and disposition was best described by a two compartment model with clearance (CL) influenced by post natal age (PNA); CL_{PNA<21 days} 0.57 versus CL_PNA>21days 0.88 L/h.

Conclusions: Daily repeated administration of parabens containing medicines can result in prolonged systemic exposure to the parent compound in neonates. Animal toxicology studies of PPB that specifically address the neonatal period are required before a permitted daily exposure for this age group can be established.

Tackling the problem of blood culture contamination in the intensive care unit using an educational intervention

Blood culture contamination (BCC) has been associated with unnecessary antibiotic use, additional laboratory tests and increased length of hospital stay thus incurring significant extra hospital costs. We set out to assess the impact of a staff educational intervention programme on decreasing intensive care unit (ICU) BCC rates to <3% (American Society for Microbiology standard). BCC rates during the pre-intervention period (January 2006-May 2011) were compared with the intervention period (June 2011-December 2012) using run chart and regression analysis. Monthly ICU BCC rates during the intervention period were reduced to a mean of 3·7%, compared to 9·5% during the baseline period (P < 0·001) with an estimated potential annual cost savings of about £250 100. The approach used was simple in design, flexible in delivery and efficient in outcomes, and may encourage its translation into clinical practice in different healthcare settings.

Blood: Tests used to assess the physiological and immunological properties of blood.

The properties of blood and the relative ease of access to which it can be retrieved make it an ideal source to gauge different aspects of homeostasis within an individual, form an accurate diagnosis, and formulate an appropriate treatment regime. Tests used to determine blood parameters such as the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, bleeding and clotting times, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, mean cell volume, and determination of blood groups are routinely used clinically, and deviations outside the normal range can indicate a range of conditions such as anemia, pregnancy, dehydration, overhydration, infectious disease, cancer, thyroid disease, and autoimmune conditions, to mention a few. As these tests can be performed relatively inexpensively and do not require high levels of technical expertise, they are ideally suited for use in the teaching laboratory, enabling undergraduate students to link theory to practice. The practicals described here permit students to examine their own blood and that of their peers and compare these with clinically accepted normal ranges. At the end of the practicals, students are required to answer a number of questions about their findings and to link abnormal values to possible pathological conditions by answering a series of questions based on their findings.

Purity of Blood and Caste. Identity Narratives among Early Modern Goan Elites

This essay analyses the roles played by purity of blood and caste in seventeenth-and eighteenth-century identity narratives of Goan clites. Goa and its population are usually excluded from the mainstream literature of Indian social history, and seldom related to the early-modern Atlantic world, making this case study all the more valuable as a place to think the topic of blood and caste. The early establishment and the longevity of the Portuguese imperial presence (1510-1961) in Goa, its location at the crossroads of multiple cultural geographies (Iberian and Indian, and later, also Dutch, British and French), as well as the systematic process of religious conversion of its inhabitants and the questions of legal equality that conversion entailed, all intensified the types, textures, layers and meanings of experiences of social differentiation in this colonial context. This mapping of the experiences of purity of blood and caste in early-modem Goa therefore illuminates from a new angle the role of European imperial powers in the mUltiple expressions of racial classification.

Several Interruptions: Web commission for the relaunch of The Arts Council of England website

Several Interruptions, which collages together online videos in which people are seen holding their breath underwater, is both interruption (as its name suggests) as well as documentary, in which the seemingly mundane and numerous has been made back into something unique and original. Thomson & Craighead have personally chosen, from some 61,000 possible files on YouTube, videos which they have edited together into brief vignettes which interrupt each other sequentially (in time) and laterally (on-screen).

Genetic dissection of sodium and potassium transport along the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron: Importance in the control of blood pressure and hypertension.

In this review, we discuss genetic evidence supporting Guyton's hypothesis stating that blood pressure control is critically depending on fluid handling by the kidney. The review is focused on the genetic dissection of sodium and potassium transport in the distal nephron and the collecting duct that are the most important sites for the control of sodium and potassium balance by aldosterone and angiotensin II. Thanks to the study of Mendelian forms of hypertension and their corresponding transgenic mouse models, three main classes of diuretic receptors (furosemide, thiazide, amiloride) and the main components of the aldosterone- and angiotensin-dependent signaling pathways were molecularly identified over the past 20years. This will allow to design rational strategies for the treatment of hypertension and for the development of the next generation of diuretics.