Feminist discourse on sex screening and selective abortion of female foetuses

Although a preference for sons is reportedly a universal phenomenon, in some Asian societies daughters are considered financial and cultural liabilities. Increasing availability of ultrasonography and amniocentesis has led to widespread gender screening and selective abortion of normal female foetuses in many countries, including India. Feminists have taken widely divergent positions on the morality of this practice. Feminists from India have strongly opposed it, considering it as a further disenfranchisement of females in their patriarchal society, and have agitated successfully for legislative prohibitions. Libertarian feminists on the other hand, primarily from the United States, have argued that any prohibition of the use of this technology is a curtailment of a woman's reproductive choices and a violation of her right to make autonomous decisions regarding procreation. Using India as an illustrative case, this paper argues that in the context of what prevails in some societies, an ethical argument that hinges on the principle of autonomy as understood in the West can be problematic. Furthermore, a liberal theoretical assumption that it is always better to have more rather than fewer choices may not hold up well against the realities of life for such women. Although feminists have little disagreement concerning substantive matters, it is in the area of strategy that differences of opinion have arisen, their moral reasoning and responses shaped by the culture, ethnicity, class and race to which they belong. A view that a single 'orthodox' feminism of any variety can embody the aspiration of all women reverts to the problematic issues in the evolution of the rationalistic, individualistic, 'male' ethics against which women have consistently raised objections.     

Noscapine protects the H9c2 cardiomyocytes of rats against oxygen–glucose deprivation/reperfusion injury

Molecular Biology Reports - Noscapine is an antitumor alkaloid derived from Papaver somniferum plants. Our previous study has demonstrated that exposure of noscapine on primary murine fetal...     

Endoesophageal cryovagotomy

Previous studies from our laboratory have shown the terminal esophagus to tolerate endoesophageal cryotherapy with prompt healing. Endoesophageal cryotherapy was evaluated in 25 adult cats as a method of producing transient truncal vagotomy. Gastric analyses were performed using chronic gastric cannulas and stimulating gastric secretion with a central vagal stimulant, 2-deoxy-d-glucose. Each vagal trunk was visualized through a left thoracotomy and frozen to ?65 to ?85 °C by means of a nitrous oxide cryoprobe passed per mouth. Three experimental groups were established: Group I in whom the cryoprobe was passed into the terminal esophagus but not activated; Group II in whom each vagal trunk was frozen for 1 min with an intervening spontaneous thaw; and Group III in whom each vagal trunk was frozen for 2 min with an intervening thaw. In both cryotherapy groups, highly significant reduction in gastric acid secretion was noted at 7 days with return to normal function within 7 weeks. There was a 38% mortality in animals frozen for 1-min periods and a 64% mortality for those frozen for 2 min. Although a transient vagotomy may be performed in this manner, these complications are unacceptable for clinical usage and newer cryotherapy techniques for production of truncal vagotomy are being evaluated.     

Preparation of liposomal gene therapy vectors by a scalable method without using volatile solvents or detergents

A scalable and safe method was developed to prepare liposomal carriers for entrapment and delivery of genetic material. The carrier systems were composed of endogenously occurring dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), negatively charged dicetylphosphate (DCP), cholesterol (CHOL) and glycerol (3%, v/v). Liposomes were prepared by a modified and improved version of the heating method in which no harmful chemical or procedure is involved. Anionic lipoplexes were formed by incorporating plasmid DNA (pCMV-GFP) to the liposomes by the mediation of calcium ions. Transfection efficiency and toxicity of the lipoplexes were evaluated in CHO-K1 cells using flow cytometry and MTT assay, respectively. Controls included DNA-Ca(2+) complexes (without lipids), anionic liposome-DNA complexes (with no Ca(2+)), and a commercially available cationic liposomal formulation. Results indicated fast and reproducible formation of non-toxic lipoplexes that possess long-term stability, high DNA entrapment capacity (81%) and high transfection efficiency. The lipoplex preparation method has the potential of large-scale manufacture of safe and efficient carriers of nucleic acid drugs.