Hasil untuk "American literature"

Henry Mauricio Parada-Gereda, Janneth Milena Avendaño-Vanegas, Luis Alexander Peña-López

Introduction The ventilatory ratio (VR) is a simple and accessible index that reflects ventilatory efficiency in critically ill patients. Although several studies have examined its potential as a prognostic marker in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the results remain inconsistent and inconclusive. This systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association between VR and mortality in adult patients with ARDS.Methods and analysis Two investigators will independently conduct systematic literature searches in the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature / Literatura Latinoamericana y del Caribe en Ciencias de la Salud (LILACS) databases, covering all publications from database inception to July 2025.This systematic review and meta-analysis will include prospective and retrospective cohort studies evaluating the association between the VR and mortality in adult patients with ARDS. Specifically, we aim to answer the following Patient, Population or Problem, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) question: In adult patients with ARDS (Population), is an elevated VR (Exposure), compared to lower or normal VR values (Comparison), associated with an increased risk of mortality (Outcome)?The primary outcome will be mortality, as defined in each included study. Outcomes will be analysed according to the characteristics and reporting of the original publications.The methodological quality of the included studies will be assessed using the Quality In Prognosis Studies tool, and the certainty of the evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.The review will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A hierarchical Bayesian random-effects model will be used to synthesise the data, with effect sizes expressed as ORs and 95% credible intervals. Weakly informative priors will be applied to model parameters.Between-study heterogeneity will be assessed through the estimation of the between-study variance (τ²) and the I² statistic. Subgroup analyses will be conducted based on study design and ARDS aetiology, and a bivariate meta-regression will explore potential effect modifiers. A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis will also be performed to assess the robustness of the findings.Publication bias will be evaluated using a Bayesian funnel plot and an adapted version of Egger’s test.Ethics and dissemination This systematic review does not require ethics approval. The results will be published in scientific journals, presented at national and international conferences and shared on social media in accessible language.PROSPERO registration number CRD420251008773

Lautaro Paredes

El presente escrito analiza las coordenadas de la contemporaneidad en A hora da estrela, de Clarice Lispector, como también la posibilidad de leer la obra a partir de los procesos históricos y culturales latinoamericanos. El estudio se realiza a partir de un análisis detallado acerca de cómo operan las categorías con que la crítica caracteriza a la literatura contemporánea (metaficción, autoficción, intertextualidad, etc.) en su texto. Estas categorías son complementadas y puestas a prueba con las nociones de posautonomía, literaturas cosmopolitas y literaturas nacionales presentes en Aquí América Latina, de Josefina Ludmer. Finalmente, se analiza la productividad que tienen algunas nociones actuales de las Ciencias Humanas y los Estudios Literarios (nomadismo, representación geográfica, identidades mixtas) para pensar la novela, sus personajes y su expresión peculiar de la contemporaneidad.

Olga Yu. Antsyferova, Andrey A. Astvatsaturov, Irina V. Morozova et al.

On December 8, 2022, an international academic conference dedicated to the year 1922 as an important milestone in the history of American and European Modernism was held at the Russian State University of Humanities (Moscow). The conference aimed at the cultural reconstruction of 1922 and was organized by the Department of Comparative-Historical Literary Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities, and A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. American literary history occupied a prominent place in the program of the conference. The plenary session was devoted to T.S. Eliot, whose poem The Waste Land was published in 1922. Olga Polovinkina (Russian State University for the Humanities, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences) spoke about the importance of the aesthetics of the music hall for the strcture The Waste Land. Igor Shaitanov (Russian State University of Humanities, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) drew a parallel between The Waste Land and Evegny Zamyatin's Alatyr’. Vassily Tolmatchoff (Lomonosov Moscow State University) suggested a new interpretation of the “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. A.A. Astvatsaturov (St. Petersburg State University) considered T.S. Eliot’s modernist work in comparison with the creative attitudes and self-fashioning of Henry Miller. Alexandra Zinovieva (Lomonosov Moscow State University) spoke about Countess Marie Louise Elisabeth Larisсh von Moennich, the heroine of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, and her participation in German and Austrian cinematographic projects of the late 1910s — early 1920s. Olga Panova (A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University) reconstructed the year 1922 in the history of the Harlem Renaissance. Irina Morozova (Russian State University of Humanities) presented the year 1922 as an important period in the history of American pharaohmania. Olga Antsyferova (St. Petersburg State University) analysed the book 1922: Literature, Culture, Politics (ed. by Jean-Michel Rabaté; Cambridge University Press, 2015) showing how the methodology of historical simultaneity works on the material of culture studies.

Simon W Chong, Georgina Imberger, Amalia Karahalios et al.

Mandatory prospective trial registration was introduced in 2005 to reduce publication bias and selective outcome reporting. In this study, we measured the proportion of prospective trial registration in randomized controlled trials in the anesthesia literature after this introduction, discrepancies between these trial protocols and subsequent publications, the association between being prospectively registered and reporting positive or negative results, and between being prospectively registered and achieving publication. We reviewed all abstracts from the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meetings between 2010-2016 and included randomized controlled trials in humans. The abstract conclusions were scored as positive or negative according to predetermined definitions. We conducted a systematic search for trial registration and subsequent publication. Of the 9789 abstracts reviewed, 1070 abstracts were included. 222 (21%) of these abstracts had undergone prospective trial registration. 168/222 (76%) had a corresponding journal publication. 81(48%) had a major discrepancy between registration and publication. 149 (67%) of the abstracts with registration had positive outcomes compared with 616 (73%) of those without (Odds Ratio 0.77; 95% CI: 0.56 to 1.06; P = 0.105). Abstracts that had been registered were more likely to proceed to publication than those that had not (Odds Ratio 3.82; 95% CI 2.73 to 5.35; P < 0.001). The proportion of randomized controlled trials being prospectively registered in anesthesia remains low. Discrepancies between registry entries and corresponding journal publications are common. There was no association between prospective trial registration and subsequent positive outcomes. There was a strong association between prospective trial registration and the likelihood of progression to journal publication.

Maritta Välimäki, Qirong Chen, Siyuan Tang et al.

Introduction Academic-practice partnerships are a promising strategy that could strengthen the promotion and innovation of evidence-based nursing practice (EBNP). However, there is little evidence of how academic and clinical institutions and individuals should collaborate in each process of EBNP and the factors that influence academic-practice partnerships in EBNP. There is a pressing need to explore the extent of the literature on academic-practice partnerships in EBNP, as well as to classify, compare and summarise the results or opinions obtained from various types of literature to identify both existing knowledge and gaps in the research.Methods and analysis The scoping review will be conducted following the methodological guidelines provided by the JBI. The scoping review will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Seven databases, including the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Educational Resource Information Center and two Chinese databases (ie, CNKI and WANFANG DATA), will be searched. The grey literature will also be searched using the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Nurses Association, Open Grey, Grey Literature Report and the official website of JBI. The literature screening and data extraction will be conducted independently by two researchers. A third researcher will be involved when a consensus is needed.Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required. The findings of the scoping review will be disseminated in a conference and a peer-reviewed journal.

Kalina Kamenova, Hazar Haidar

INTRODUCTION The possibility of using genetic technologies to engineer the perfect baby has long haunted the public imagination. While some techno-utopians have openly advocated for human genetic enhancement, many critics have warned that advances in DNA technology come with myriads of ethical dilemmas and potentially dangerous social consequences. Literary and cinematic works have offered dystopian visions of our genetic futures—from Aldous Huxley’s powerful socio-political fantasy in his book Brave New World (1932) to cult classics of sci-fi cinema, such as Blade Runner (1982) and Gattaca (1997), there has been no shortage of ominous predictions that genetic engineering would lead to a new form of eugenics, which would ultimately create new social hierarchies grounded on genetic discrimination. Moreover, concerns about the use of genetic and genomic technologies for social control have been entangled with deep philosophical questions about personal autonomy, the right of the child to an open future, and the morality of changing, improving, or redesigning human nature.1 The perennial debate on human enhancement was recently reignited with a new controversy over the use of pre-implantation screening of embryos using polygenic risk scores.2 While the profiling of IVF embryos to detect hereditary, monogenetic diseases has been widely accepted, some companies are now pushing the envelope with unrealistic promises of tests that can predict genetic possibilities for desirable traits such as a child’s intelligence, athletic ability, and physical appearance. One event that prompted a public outcry in late 2021 was news about the birth of the first baby from an embryo selected through polygenic testing, a girl named Aurea.3 Although the embryo screening in Aurea’s case was used to decrease the likelihood for certain health conditions, many commentators believed that it signaled a real possibility of embryo selection for non-medical reasons becoming a commercial procedure in the foreseeable future, especially in the largely unregulated US fertility market.4 In the past, there have been discrepancies in how ethical and policy issues arising from advances in reproductive medicine have been viewed by experts (e.g., bioethicists, philosophers, legal scholars) and presented in the news. Like other advances in medical genetics, gene editing and screening technologies have been frequently characterized by exaggeration, sensationalism, and hype around clinical possibilities.5 Moreover, news media have often amplified the anticipated health benefits of genetic testing while overlooking uncertainty associated with its clinical validity and emerging ethical concerns, as shown in a recent study of the media portrayal of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT).6 The issue of polygenic embryo screening (PES) initially gained traction in the media in 2017 when the New Jersey biotech startup Genomic Prediction made headlines with claims that its testing technology could identify and avoid implanting embryos with very low IQs.7 The company also claimed that it had the capability to identify embryos with high IQs, although it committed not to offer that procedure for ethical reasons.8 The media coverage of polygenic risk scoring of human embryos between 2017 and 2019 was previously analyzed in a study published in BMC Medical Ethics in September 2021.9 This media content analysis has established that while most news articles were neutral towards the technology, one of the most significant critiques raised by science reporters was the absence of solid scientific evidence for the technology’s predictive accuracy and its practical value in IVF settings. It has also identified five major ethical concerns articulated by science reporters that have also been addressed in the academic discourse and within broader policy debates on reproductive technologies: a slippery slope towards designer babies, well-being of the child and parents, impact on society, deliberate choice, and societal readiness. In this article, we examine the discourse on PES in bioethics blogs, opinion articles, and news stories published in 2021, with a specific focus on reactions to the birth of the first polygenic risk score baby. We compare the perspectives of experts and science reporters to establish their attitudes towards PES, the main ethical themes in press coverage, and the key issues highlighted for a future policy debate. We also juxtapose our findings to the previous study of media coverage to establish if the case of baby Aurea has raised any new issues and pressing ethical concerns. I. Polygenic Embryo Screening in Reproductive Medicine While complex diseases and human traits result from a combination of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors, genomic medicine is quickly gaining momentum, and demands for genetic tests in clinical practice have significantly increased. Scans and analyses of genomes from various populations, a research area known as genome-wide association studies, have enabled scientists and researchers to identify genetic differences or variants associated with a particular trait or medical condition. These variants can be combined into a polygenic risk score that predicts an individual’s traits or increased risk for a certain disease. For instance, PES have been used to predict a range of diverse common conditions, from diabetes and cancer to attention deficit issues10 and, in some cases, well-being in general.11 This testing modality relies on the probabilistic susceptibility of individuals to certain diseases to offer personalized medical treatments and inform therapeutic interventions. Polygenic embryo screening uses polygenic risk scores to assess an embryo’s statistical risks of developing diseases (e.g., cardiovascular diseases) and potentially traits (e.g., intelligence, athletic ability, among others) and is performed in an IVF setting. It is currently marketed by several US companies such as MyOme, OrchidHealth, and Genomic Prediction to prospective parents as a method to screen pre-implantation embryos for health and non-health related conditions and is accessible to those who can afford to pay for it. As stated in a recent report on companies bringing PES into reproductive medicine, Genomic Prediction has already made their test for polygenic disorders, LifeView, available to couples. In contrast, Orchid Health has only recently invited couples to an early-access program for their testing technology, and MyOme is still in the process of launching its own test.12 In September 2021, Bloomberg first reported the birth of baby Aurea using screening conducted by Genomic Prediction. She was born after her parents used IVF and subsequently PES to select from 33 candidate pre-implantation embryos in 2020.13 Aurea’s embryo was deemed to have the best genetic odds of avoiding conditions such as breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and schizophrenia in adulthood. It is worth noting that Genomic Prediction made the announcement almost one year following Aurea’s birth, thus delaying the media’s reaction to this development and the ensuing bioethical and policy debates. II. Ethical, Social, and Policy Implications Some important ethical, social, and regulatory considerations regarding the development and clinical use of PES have been raised within the academic community. The bioethics literature on the issue, however, appears rather thin, which is not surprising given that prior to 2021, the possibility of using this screening method in clinical practice was largely hypothetical. Other genomic technologies that have enabled polygenic embryo selection, such as whole-genome sequencing and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, have received more attention from bioethicists, legal scholars, and Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) researchers. Our analysis of the emerging literature has shown that some proponents of PES advocate its current use and go as far as to suggest a permissive regulatory environment for the purpose of outpacing the ethical concerns and potential restrictions once the technology becomes widely available. This approach suggests that embryo selection should be allowed for or against any trait associated with higher odds for better health and well-being in general, often without further discussion of what accounts for wellbeing.14 Scholars applying the principle of procreative beneficence to defend the use of PES have also argued for regulation that addresses issues of justice and equality and expands access to the procedure for those who are currently unable to afford it. By contrast, opponents have argued that the clinical utility of this embryo selection method is yet to be proven, and its current use may create unrealistic expectations in parents, making it an unethical practice to offer the procedure as part of IVF treatments.15 They state that predictive models from PRS have been developed with data from genomes of adult populations. Therefore, extrapolating results for embryo screening, along with the absence of a research protocol to validate its diagnostic effectiveness, is dangerous and misleading.16 Another layer of complexity is added because PRS already faces many translational hurdles that would undermine its predictive value assessment for certain traits or diseases. Scientists have noted that PRS take into consideration the genetic component of a particular trait putting aside the effects of other non-genetic factors, such as lifestyle and environment, which might interfere and influence the calculation of these scores.17 Discussions on the ethics and societal implications of PES in the bioethics literature can be grouped into three distinct categories: 1) relational issues between parents and the future child (e.g., selection as identity-determining, concerns about the instrumentalization of children and the child’s right to an open future); 2) concerns about social justice and equality (e.g., fears about a new eugenics that establishes new social hierarchy, limited access to the technology due to its cost); and 3) implementation and regulatory concerns (e.g., lack of professional guidelines and advertising of PES by private companies). An important ethical implication of PES relates to the well-being of the future child and the way that selecting children based on their genetic make-up might negatively affect the parent-child relationship. This is in line with previously raised ethical concerns in the literature around cloning and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis that by choosing a child’s genetic predisposition, we are limiting to and, in some cases, denying their right to an open future. For instance, the future child’s options would be restricted if parents chose a genetic predisposition to musicality that might interfere with the child’s ability to make certain life choices.18 On a societal level, there are concerns PES may alter social perceptions of what is “normal” and “healthy,” resulting in discrimination and stigmatization of certain conditions.19 Related to this are fears about encouraging eugenic attitudes that can exacerbate discrimination against people with disabilities. Furthermore, one of the main ethical concerns raised is that the growing use of PES might exacerbate societal pressure to use this technology, influencing parents’ decisions to select the embryo with the “best” genetics giving rise to a generation of “designer babies.” 20 Finally, direct-to-consumer marketing and clinical introduction of the technology prior to the publication of professional guidelines and in the absence of scientific validity for its use, as well as without appropriate regulatory oversight, is seen as a premature step that might erode public trust.21 III. News Stories and Expert Commentary on Polygenic Embryo Screening in 2021 We conducted searches on google news using keywords such as “polygenic embryo screening,” “polygenic risk scores,” “baby Aurea,” and “embryo selection” and selected blogs and articles from major news sources (e.g., Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Guardian, The Times, etc.). An additional effort was made to collect all relevant articles from prominent bioethics blogs such as the Hastings Center Bioethics Forum, Impact Ethics, Bioethics.net, Biopolitical Times (Center for Genetics and Society), among others. The time period for the study was one year, from January 1 to December 31, 2021. While most coverage occurred after the Bloomberg report on the birth of the first baby using PES, there were a number of news stories and blogs in response to a special report on embryo selection based on polygenic risk scores published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 1, 2020.22 This report, which has received significant attention in the press, warns that companies that offer genetic services can create unrealistic expectations in health providers and prospective parents through their marketing practices. It has further emphasized the scientific uncertainty around the predictive results of PRS in the context of embryo selection. In general, our search has established that the news media coverage on PES over the past year has revolved around these two events – the NEJM Report and the announcement about the first baby born after PES. In total, we collected 29 publications, of which 12 were blog posts and 17 publications under the general category of “news,” including ten news articles, three opinion pieces/perspective articles, two press releases, and one radio broadcast transcript (see Supplementary Material). IV. Methods for content analysis We utilized an inductive-deductive process to develop coding categories for a systematic content analysis of the blogs and new articles. The first author undertook a close reading of the entire dataset to derive inductively recurrent themes and ethical arguments in the media representations of PES. Based on this preliminary analysis, both authors agreed on the categories for textual analysis. The coding book was further refined by using a deductive approach that incorporates themes that have been previously articulated in the scholarly literature on the issue, particularly questions about the perceived attributes of the test, ethical concerns, and emerging policy considerations. The following categories were used to analyze key issues and attitudes towards PES expressed by experts and science journalists: a. Claims that PES is unethical because it violates the future child’s autonomy. b. Concerns about PES as a step towards eugenics and/or genetic discrimination. c. Defenses of PES with arguments that parents have a duty to give the child the healthiest possible start in life (and reduce public health burden). d. Claims that the science behind PRS-based diagnostics is uncertain, and it will take some time to prove its clinical validity. e. Concerns about the equality of access to PES. f. Arguments that PES can exacerbate ethnic and racial inequality (e.g., that most polygenic scores are created using DNA samples from individuals of European ancestries and predictions may not be accurate in other populations). g. Arguments that PES provides health benefits and can help overcome genetic and health inequalities. h. Concerns about the negative impact that PES may have on the child-parent relationship. i. Arguments about the need for better regulatory oversight of PES. j. Suggestions that there is an urgent need for deliberation and debate on the societal and ethical implications of PES. k. Concerns that patients and clinicians may get the impression that the procedure is more effective and less risky than it is. l. Assessment of whether the article’s perspective towards the use of PES is positive, negative, or neutral. We used yes/no questions to detect the frequencies of mentions in each category, except on the last question, which required a more nuanced, qualitative assessment of the overall tone of the articles. We coded articles as “positive” when the authors viewed the technology favorably and emphasized its potential health benefits over its negative implications. Articles that did not condone the current use of PES and expressed strong concerns about the predictive accuracy of this testing method, its readiness for clinical use, and highlighted its controversial ethical and social implications were coded as “negative.” Finally, articles that simply presented information about the topic and quoted experts on the advantages and disadvantages of using PRS for embryo selection without taking a side or expressing value judgments were coded as “neutral.” Acknowledging the complex polysemic nature of media texts, we took into consideration that support or disapproval of PES may be implicit and expressed by giving credence to some experts’ opinions over others. Therefore, we coded articles that mostly cited expert opinion favorable to PES, or alternatively, presented such views as more credible, as “positive”, while we coded articles that emphasized critical perspectives as “negative.” V. Media Discourse and Expert Opinion On PES We found out that perspectives and opinions by experts were prominently featured in both news (17 articles) and blogs (12 articles). The blog posts in our dataset were written by university professors in bioethics (four articles), academics from other disciplines such as medicine, political science, psychology, human genetics, and neurobiology (four articles), and science journalists and editors (four articles). Furthermore, three of the news articles in influential newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Scientific American were opinion articles or commentaries contributed by academics (e.g., a psychology professor, specializing in personality, individual differences, and behavior genetics, a sociology professor, and a director of research in a graduate program in human genetics). The remaining 14 news articles in our dataset were written by science reporters, editors, or other staff writers. Altogether, experts contributed 38 percent of the media coverage (11 articles) on the issue of PES and its wider societal implications. Experts’ comments were also heavily featured in the 18 articles written by science reporters and other media professionals, which accounted for 68 percent of the dataset. Of these articles, 17 extensively cited experts with academic and research backgrounds (professors and research scientists), seven articles quoted industry representatives (e.g., CEOs and spokespersons of Genomic Prediction and Orchid, other commercial developers), and four articles included opinions by parents seeking PES, particularly Aurea’s father, North Carolina neurologist Rafal Smigrodzki, who argued that a parent’s duty is to prevent disease in their child.23 The overall perspective towards the use of PES was mostly negative – 59 percent (17 articles) expressed negative attitudes, while 24 percent (seven articles) were positive and 17% (five articles) were neutral in tone and did not advance arguments in favor or against the technology and its adoption. However, we did not establish significant differences in negativity and positivity between experts and science reporters. For instance, 49 percent of the articles with negative attitudes were written by experts, while 53 percent were authored by science reports. Similarly, the articles by experts with positive perspectives on PES accounted for 13 percent of the dataset, while science reporters contributed 11 percent of the positive articles. VI. Major Themes and Issues The most discussed issue in media coverage was the prediction accuracy of polygenic risk scores and the uncertainties regarding the utility of these tests in embryo screening. Our analysis has established that 72 percent of the articles (21 out of 29) argued that the science behind PES-based diagnostics is uncertain, and it will take some time to prove its clinical validity. The second most frequently mentioned issue was the potential of PES to lead to a eugenic future of human reproduction. More than half of the articles (59 percent or 17 out of 29) raised concerns that PES could become a step towards a new form of eugenics that could eventually normalize the discrimination of people based on their genetics. Despite concerns about the accuracy of PES testing, many articles gave extensive attention to problems concerning equality of access to PES and related diagnostic services, with 49 percent of the articles (13 out of 29) expressing concerns that the procedure is currently offered at a high cost, it is not covered by health insurance plans, and people of lower socioeconomic status cannot afford it. Furthermore, 41 percent of the articles (12 out of 29) raise concern that the current use of PES reflects the existing ethnic and racial inequalities since most PES are created using DNA samples from individuals of European ancestries, and predictions may not be accurate in other populations. Although it has been reported that Genomic Prediction considers offering the procedure to parents of non-European ancestries, their messaging has suggested it would take a significant time to provide them with predictive models that are as relevant as those for European populations.24 The health benefits of this testing technology, its regulation, and the need for a wider debate on how to realize its promise in a responsible manner were also addressed, albeit to a lesser extent. The potential to overcome genetic and health inequalities by selecting healthy embryos with the best odds against diseases and chronic conditions was emphasized in 41 percent of the articles (12 out of 29). The regulation was a topic covered in 38 percent of the articles (11 out of 29), in which the authors argued that better regulatory oversight of PES is needed, especially in the present condition of an unregulated US market for genetic testing. Additionally, 38 percent suggested that there is an urgent need for deliberation and public debate on the societal and ethical implications of PES. Finally, the issue that patients and clinicians may get the wrong impression that the procedure is more effective and less risky was addressed in 31 percent (nine out of 29). We have established that critical issues about how PES may affect the well-being of the future child and the child-parent relationship have received less attention. For instance, only 17 percent of the articles (five out of 29) supported the clinical use of PES with arguments that parents have a moral obligation to give the child the healthiest possible start in life, a line of thought that is prominent in the bioethics literature on procreative beneficence and procreative autonomy.25 These authors also maintained that the technology has the potential to provide benefits to individuals and reduce the burden of disease and public health expenditure. Similarly, just 10 percent of the articles (three out of 29) expressed concerns about the negative impact that PES may have on the child-parent relationship by causing relational asymmetries between generations and limiting the autonomy of the future child. CONCLUSION Our content analysis has shown that the media discourse on PES and the birth of baby Aurea has been highly influenced by expert opinion. In fact, leading experts from bioethics and a range of other academic disciplines contributed 38 percent of the content in the form of blogs, opinion articles, and commentaries, published on prestigious bioethics fora and in the popular press. Furthermore, as our analysis has shown, science reporters have heavily relied on expert opinion in writing stories about the ethical challenges and societal implications of PES. One important finding of our study is the prevalence of negative attitudes towards the technology, as opposed to past media representations of PES, which had been neutral towards the technology.26 This change in attitudes is likely caused by the amplified voices of bioethics experts reacting to the first clinical use of the technology, which made hypothetical ethical dilemmas a very real possibility. As far as the thematic focus of media representations is concerned, the birth of the first baby using PES has raised ethical concerns similar to those highlighted in the literature on PES and embryo selection through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, with the most prominent issue being the absence of robust scientific evidence for the predictive accuracy of PRS modeling and its practical value in IVF settings. Although the critical nature of media discourse can contribute to raising public awareness about the ethical acceptability of the technology, bioethicists should also examine the effect of economic forces and societal pressures to have a perfect child that may be driving prospective parents to seek such unproven genetic interventions. PES is an emerging niche in a large, unregulated market for genetic testing services that has the potential to shape the future of reproductive medicine, and there is an urgent need for a policy debate on how it can be developed responsibly and ethically. 1 J. Habermas, "The Debate on the Ethical self-Understanding of the Species," The Future of Human Nature (Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2003): p. 16-100. 2 Polygenic risk scores (PRS) are used in personalized medicine to predict disease risk in different human populations, not necessarily for risk modelling in embryos. Polygenic embryo screening (PES), on the other hand, involves the clinical use of PRS modelling from genome-wide association studies of adult populations for selecting embryos with the lowest probability of developing certain health conditions in adulthood. It could potentially be used to select embryos with a higher probability for inheritance of certain physical traits or complex characteristics. 3 C. Goldberg, "Picking Embryos With Best Health Odds Sparks New DNA Debate," Bloomberg September 17, 2021. 4 D. Conley, "A new age of genetic screening is coming — and we don’t have any rules for it," The Washington Post June 14, 2021. 5 K. Kamenova, A. Reshef, and T. Caulfield, "Angelina Jolie's faulty gene: newspaper coverage of a celebrity's preventive bilateral mastectomy in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom," Genetics in Medicine 16, no. 7 (2014): 522-28. 6 K. Kamenova et al., "Media portrayal of non-invasive prenatal testing: a missing ethical dimension," Journals of Science Communication 15, no. 2 (2016): 1-19. 7 B. Talat, Choosing the "Smartest" Embryo: Embryo Profiling and the Future of Reproductive Technology, (Canadian Institute for Genomics and Society, March 14, 2019), https://www.genomicsandsociety.com/post/choosing-the-smartest-embryo-embryo-profiling-and-the-future-of-reproductive-technology 8 E. Parens, S. P. Applebaum, and W. Chung, "Embryo editing for higher IQ is a fantasy. Embryo profiling for it is almost here.," Statnews, February 12, 2019. 9 T. Pagnaer et al., "Polygenic risk scoring of human embryos: a qualitative study of media coverage," BMC Medical Ethics 22, no. 1 (2021): 1-8. 10 E. L. de Zeeuw et al., "Polygenic scores associated with educational attainment in adults predict educational achievement and ADHD symptoms in children," American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics 165b, no. 6 (2014): 51020. 11 A. Okbay et al., "Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses," Nature Genetics 48, no. 6 (2016): 624-33. 12 F. Ray, "Embryo Selection From Polygenic Risk Scores Enters Market as Clinical Value Remains Unproven," (December 22, 2021). https://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/embryo-selection-polygenic-risk-scores-enters-market-clinical-value-remainsunproven#.YeVWzvhOk2w 13 J. Savulescu, "The moral case for eugenics?," IAI News, September 28, 2021, https://iai.tv/articles/the-moral-case-for-eugenicsauid-1916. 14 S. Munday and J. Savulescu, "Three models for the regulation of polygenic scores in reproduction," Journal of Medical Ethics 47, no. 12 (2021): 1-9. 15 F. Forzano et al., "The use of polygenic risk scores in pre-implantation genetic testing: an unproven, unethical practice," European Journal of Human Genetics (2021). 16 Forzano et al., 1-3.; P. Turley et al., "Problems with Using Polygenic Scores to Select Embryos," The New England Jourmal of Medicine 385, no. 1 (2021): 78-86. 17 N. J. Wald and R. Old, "The illusion of polygenic disease risk prediction," Genetics in Medicine 21, no. 8 (2019): 1705-7. 18 M. J. Sandel, "The case against perfection: what's wrong with designer children, bionic athletes, and genetic engineering," Atlantic Monthly 292, no. 3 (2004): 50-4, 56-60, 62. 19 H. Haidar, "Polygenic Risk Scores to Select Embryos: A Need for Societal Debate," Impact Ethics (blog), November 3, 2021, https://impactethics.ca/2021/11/03/polygenic-risk-scores-to-select-embryos-a-need-for-societal-debate/. 20 Pagnaer et al., " 1-8. 21 Forzano et al., 1-8. 22 Turley et al., 78-86. 23 P. Ball, "Polygenic screening of embryos is here, but is it ethical?," The Guardian, October 17, 2021. 24 W. K. Davis, "A New Kind of Embryo Genetics Screening Makes Big Promises on Little Evidence," Slate, July 23, 2021, https://slate.com/technology/2021/07/prs-model-snp-genetic-screening-counseling.html. 25 J. Savulescu, "Procreative beneficence: why we should select the best children," Bioethics 15, no. 5-6 (2001): 413-26. 26 Pagnaer et al., 1-8.

Amanda Shen

Photo by Mikael Kristenson on Unsplash ABSTRACT Students represent a vulnerable population within faculty-led research at universities because of the incentivized extra credit option. Therefore, other forms of participation in should be offered, to ensure that their choice to undergo becoming a student participant is fully their autonomous choice. INTRODUCTION Extra credit— two words college students love hearing. As an undergraduate student, I was no different. Ranging from subjects like chemistry to psychology to political science, there was no lack of extra credit opportunities in the courses I took to fulfill my social science major and pre-medical requirements. Participating in my professors’ research studies seemed to be a mutually beneficial opportunity at first glance; I would receive a few extra points to buffer my grade in case I did poorly on an exam, and my professors would be able to easily recruit the participants they needed to churn out scientific findings. BACKGROUND Social sciences research, especially psychology research, which has been labeled “the science of the behavior of the college sophomore,” routinely includes students. For instance, 77 percent of all articles in two major psychology journals included research done with students.[1]  There is literature describing how common recruitment of students from undergraduate or medical school classes in the US is, a practice documented since the 1920s.[2] Indeed, students enrolled in the Psychology 10 course at UCLA, for example, are not just incentivized to do so, but in fact, are “required to serve as psychological research subjects for a total of six hours or write three abstracts on articles from psychology journals, or do a combination of both.” [3] Professors widely use student participants in academic research because of their accessibility, convenience, and willingness to participate. However, such prevalent recruitment of undergraduate students as study subjects poses several ethical questions, necessitating more stringent regulation. ANALYSIS Incentivizing research participation with rewards may unduly influence students, tempting them to participate in research they would otherwise not want to engage. According to the Association for Clinical Research Professionals, undue influence “implies that individuals will agree to participate in research without a rational consideration of the information provided in the informed consent process”.[4] Undue influence typically involves providing financial incentives to individuals in great need of money, but undue influence pertains to non-financial incentives as well. For instance, my general chemistry professor offered authorship promises to students who could travel to Mexico and bring back samples of alcohol served at resorts for his study, which aimed to analyze the chemical content of resort alcohol. More often, professors use extra credit as an incentive. Though such an incentive may not seem highly harmful, students who are worried or anxious about their grades are in a particularly vulnerable position and may very well fail to deeply consider the risks or implications of participating in research that offers extra credit. Especially in intensive courses that may be graded on a curve, additional credit may seem like an unspoken requirement rather than an option. This was the case in some of my undergraduate courses; my organic chemistry professor offered extra credit to students who completed writing assignments designed to measure whether writing explanations of chemical reactions affected student understanding and performance in the course. Unsurprisingly, the majority of students participated in the research study, seeing it as integral to their grades. Furthermore, students are subject to an inherent, unbalanced power dynamic between themselves and their instructors. A student’s academic or professional standing may rely on the professor, who may boost grades or agree to write a letter of recommendation. Academic faculty members are on a payroll and thus retain a primary fiduciary responsibility to teach, educate, and protect their students.[5] However, many faculty members also advance and develop new scientific and academic knowledge through research positions. In studies that have student participants, professors can experience a conflict of interest while exercising their roles as researchers and instructors. These dual roles are especially risky in a study when a student participant must divulge personal information, which is then accessible to the professor. Students ought to participate in research out of their own volition, without the added pressure of benefits and risks reflected in their grades, recommendations, or professor relationships.  It is also essential to consider the ethical principle of justice in this space and whether findings from the research using student samples are meant to be implemented in policy or clinical efforts within a broader, more diverse population. A 2010 study published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences found that two-thirds of subjects in American psychology research were undergraduates studying psychology.[6] This finding raises the question of how such a disproportionate sampling has impacted the effect of clinical psychology on populations who may not have similar levels of education or socioeconomic status as the average college student. In general, student samples have historically been much more homogenous than non-student samples, which often leads to difficulties in replicating findings in the general population.[7] Nevertheless, researchers have an obligation to society to produce equitable results, and their research designs and sampling methods ought to reflect that. l.     Counterarguments and Benefits of Student Research Granted, there is undoubtedly valuable research that seeks to study student populations exclusively, resulting in data relevant to student populations specifically. Additionally, critics may contend that research involving student subjects rarely poses major risks that call beneficence into question. One may also argue that research participation can be a helpful, behind-the-scenes learning experience for students to experience how to conduct research. Some studies and research designs involving students provide tangible benefits to students. For instance, studies that supplement current course material would provide valuable insight into key concepts and, thus, be acceptable. ll.     Recommendations So how can institutions and individuals better regulate and ensure ethical practices within this area which has gone relatively unchecked? First, researchers should make an effort to randomly select a diverse sample if they intend the research to have far-reaching implications. Student participants are certainly easier to obtain and more accessible, but as the Belmont Report states, “the selection of research subjects needs to be scrutinized in order to determine whether some classes are being systematically selected simply because of their easy availability, their compromised position, or their manipulability, rather than for reasons directly related to the problem being studied.”[8] Academia must seriously re-evaluate whether students are being “systematically selected” simply because of their accessibility, through additional training modules or educational videos upon hire. This isn’t to say that research should completely exclude student participation; rather, researchers should make more of an active effort to recruit a variety of participants without solely targeting students through student-specific incentives like extra credit. There are unique ethical dilemmas that arise with power imbalances and convenient sampling. Thus, research that necessitates student-specific sampling must be carried out and regulated carefully. Research incentives can still be offered, but any incentive involving extra credit should be coupled with a diverse range of alternatives that take a similar amount of time to complete. The ability to participate in and contribute to research is a privilege; working students may not be able to take time off to participate in research, so researchers should offer them some other compensated work that suits their schedules. Also, students and non-students should receive similar compensation, something impossible if extra credit is the form of compensation. To avoid a conflict of interest, professors should avoid recruiting current students for their personal research. Separating roles may also address some pressing concerns about the confidentiality of subjects, who might feel more comfortable answering research questions without the fear of having their own professor read or listen to them. A much better method for enrolling student participants is to randomly assign students who have voluntarily signed up through an online platform to studies run by professors who are not directly related to the student. During studies that use student participants, informed consent and attention to general research ethics are essential. From the start, students should be educated about informed consent and how power may alter the voluntariness of their consent. Students should also be clear about the incentives available to them, the risks of participating in such research, the ensured confidentiality of their responses, and their ability to opt-out of the study at any time. Even after the study concludes, students should be able to voice any concerns through an anonymous survey or hotline. Simultaneously, researchers and professors should debrief participants. Ultimately, these post-study efforts would increase the transparency of research involving student subjects while furthering the field of academia by identifying areas of ethical improvement. CONCLUSION Currently, most universities and IRBs have guidelines for research involving student subjects and there are various federal and state regulations protecting research subjects.[9],Yet students remain susceptible to a host of ethical issues, including undue influence, lack of justice, and the sense they would be penalized for opting out. With increased and standardized oversight initiatives such as the ones outlined above, universities can work towards ensuring a more ethical space for students to participate in and learn from the research efforts of faculty members. - [1] Burnett JJ, Dune PM. An appraisal of the use of student subjects in Marketing Research. Journal of Business Research. 1986;14(4):329-343. doi:10.1016/0148-2963(86)90024-x [2] Prescott HM. Using the student body: College and university students as research subjects in the United States during the Twentieth Century. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 2002;57(1):3-38. doi:10.1093/jhmas/57.1.3 [3] “Sona Instructions for Undergraduate Participants • UCLA Department of Psychology.” UCLA Department of Psychology, 14 Sept. 2021, https://www.psych.ucla.edu/undergraduate/subject-pool-experiment-participation/sona-instructions-for-undergraduate-participants/. [4] Borasky, David, et al. “Paying Subjects to Take Part in Research: A New Perspective on Coercion and Undue Influence.” ACRP, 13 Mar. 2019, https://acrpnet.org/2019/03/12/paying-subjects-to-take-part-in-research-a-new-perspective-on-coercion-and-undue-influence/. [5] Ferguson, Linda M., et al. “Students' Involvement in Faculty Research: Ethical and Methodological Issues.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods, vol. 3, no. 4, 2004, pp. 56–68., https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690400300405. [6] Giridharadas, Anand. “A Weird Way of Thinking Has Prevailed Worldwide.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Aug. 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/americas/26iht-currents.html. [7] Peterson, Robert A. “On the Use of College Students in Social Science Research: Insights from a Second-Order Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 28, no. 3, 2001, pp. 450–461., https://doi.org/10.1086/323732. [8] Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). “The Belmont Report.” HHS.gov, 16 June 2021, https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html#xbenefit. [9] U. S. department of education protection of human subjects. Home. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/humansub.html. Published August 4, 2020; Students as Subjects. Massachusetts Institute of Technology COUHES. https://couhes.mit.edu/guidelines/students-subjects. Accessed December 2, 2021. Accessed November 28, 2021.

Hakimeh Izadi, MohammadReza Najjarian

In the current article, the authors tried to evaluate some aspects of alternative history narration in the historical novel, Shah-e bi Shin, written by Mohammad Kazem Mazinani. Alternative history narration is an emerging genre in Persian literature, which could lead to the creation of attractive, compelling stories, somehow opposed to the historical imaginations of audiences. Alternative history finds a new timeline for historical narrating, using ingredients like having an appropriate scenario and finding a point of divergence (POD). Alternation of historical narration includes alternation in fictional events and fictional persons. The research background belongs to the historical novel, Shah-e bi Shin, limited to literary meetings and interviews, and no detailed research has been done, except for two short articles by Majid Estiri and Maryam Goudarzi. Alternative history is a new subject in fiction literature and is sometimes confused with historical metanarrative style and post-modernism.Shah-e Bi Shin narrates a real story of the Pahlavi period about a historical character, Mohammad Reza-Shah. This narrative allows writers who are interested in adding historical novels of alternative history to Iranian fiction literature, to use examples of alternate history that happened from the story character’s viewpoint. Shah-e Bi Shin, including components of alternation history narrating in branches of birth, death, lifestyle, and finally, the metamorphosis of character helps break the boundary between imagination and reality. In this research, we tried to draw the audience's attention to create new and intact narratives using historical events, besides introducing alternative historical genres and discovering novel power and imaginary narrations in Shah-e Bi Shin the historical novel. Alternation history has rooted in the historical imagination, for it can reach more readable and idealistic works of true history. This literary art seeks historical “what if”s, to show a new history to the story and its audiences.Shah-e Bi Shin novel has been narrated from Mohamad Reza Shah’s view. So, it consists of life details, personality, and behaviors of this historical character; a defeated character who always seeks in his mind the answer of “what if”s that could change the destiny and history of his land. This component makes us look for more components of this idea, and investigate historical alternate examples in this novel from the language of Mohammad Reza Shah and his surroundings. The alternation of historical events in this novel ends with the events that belong before Shah’s exodus from Iran. Events like coup defeat, Mohammad Reza Shah and Soraya’s unsuccessful escape, Shah’s assassination in university, and finally, leaving the homeland which was among the worst choices he has made, in Mohammad Reza’s view.Alternation of the historical character of this novel almost refers to Mohammad Reza, himself. These events occurred during the period from his birth to his death that happened outside Iran. During this period, he was complaining about everything and imagining other events and occurrences, in his mind, which if they had happened, would have changed his life and the history of his homeland. The novel’s atmosphere is a reflection of Mohammad Reza's childhood and such a stifling atmosphere continues after he had just survived an illness. He was upset about his birth all over the novel. That feeling of dissatisfaction spread to his destiny. He did not like this life and wishes he were a farmer or a lawyer in one of the American cities and had a normal life rather than being a country king and deprived of those works he did like to do.Mohammad Reza was so dissatisfied with this destiny, as he likes to come to a personal metamorphosis. This can help the imagination of alternative historical genres and create a story with a surrealistic atmosphere. Death and death types are other designs and deviation points which help to break down the timeline of the story. Modification in his death type or death time could cause other historical events and movements, and create a new history for novel and story audiences. Statistically analyzing the representations of alternate historical narration in this novel, we found a high frequency of alternate characters compared with alternate events (63 to 37%).  Also among representations of alternative characters, statistical data that belong to birth change has the most, and personal metamorphosis has the least quantity.

Long Di, Kevin Huang, Tigran Kesayan et al.

Abstract Background Extramedullary disease in multiple myeloma often portends a worse diagnosis. In approximately 1% of cases, multiple myeloma may metastasize to the central nervous system as either leptomeningeal involvement or an intracranial, intraparenchymal lesion. Spinal cord metastases, however, are exceedingly rare. We present a case of spinal cord multiple myeloma as well as a literature review of reported cases. Case presentation A 66-year-old African American man with multiple myeloma presented with acute midthoracic pain and lower extremity paresis and paresthesia. Magnetic resonance imaging of the spine revealed two contrast-enhancing intramedullary enhancing lesions in the T1–T2 and T6–T7 cord. Resection with biopsy yielded a diagnosis of metastatic multiple myeloma. Conclusion To date, only six cases of extramedullary disease to the spinal cord in patients with multiple myeloma have been reported, including our patient’s case. In all cases, neurologic deficit was observed at presentation, and magnetic resonance imaging of the spine revealed an intramedullary, homogeneously enhancing lesion. Current evidence suggests worse prognosis in patients with extramedullary disease to the central nervous system, and treatment paradigms remain debatable.

Leah Mirakhor

Leah Mirakhor1 View Less 1 Yale University “Oceans of Love” A Review of Hilton Als’ God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin in James Baldwin Review DOI: https://doi.org/10.7227/JBR.5.11 Online publication date: 01 Sep 2019 Number: Volume 5: Issue 1 OPEN ACCESS (FREE) DOWNLOAD PDF RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS ABSTRACT / EXCERPT PDF This essay reviews Hilton Als’ 2019 exhibition God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin at the David Zwirner Gallery. The show visually displays Baldwin in two parts: “A Walker in the City” examines his biography and “Colonialism” examines “what Baldwin himself was unable to do” by displaying the work of contemporary artists and filmmakers whose works resonate with Baldwin’s critiques of masculinity, race, and American empire. Mirakhor explores how Als’ quest to restore Baldwin is part of a long and deep literary and personal conversation that Als has been having since he was in his teens, and in this instance, exploring why and how it has culminated via the visual, instead of the literary. As Mirakhor observes, to be in the exhibit is not to just observe how Als has formed and figured Baldwin, but to see how Baldwin has informed and made Als, one of our most lyrical and impassioned contemporary writers and thinkers.

Lilian Reichert Coelho

The novel The Plot Against America (2004), from the contemporary north-American writer Philip Roth, is studied here from the relations between the democratic ideals established by the oficial discourse on America as a nation and its fundamental values of equality and individual freedom as comprehended inside a jewish and poor Family of Newark in the 1940’s beginnings in a time of instability imagined by the novelist through the construction of a “contrafactualchronotope” (cf. ANDRADE; SANTOS, 2013) asking what could have happened to the americanjews if Roosevelt have lost the 1940’s elections. The hypothesis is conducted by Jacques Rancière, in the sense he proposes the analyzis of the term democracy, wich has been perverted by people of most various ideological positions, what is confirmed by Roth in the mentioned novel. We also try to recognize the contribution of Roland Barthes to the questions of Literature and Politics, among other authors. The moral responsibility theme has been approached in a way to pick up the ethos of the main characters face to the changes provoked by the frightful circumstances presented by fiction in a close link to the writer’s ethic and aesthetic Project.   --- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.2018n45a1067.

Muthanna Mohammed Sultan

This paper investigates an important area in postcolonial studies. It analyzes American politics reflected in both its foreign policies and in literature as a new trend that may be called “American Occidentalism.” The United States replaces Europe and any other power as the sole agent capable of interfering in global affairs.  And in this very sense, it becomes the representative of the Occident. All these claims bring salient consequences and threads. Prominent scholars recognize the decisive American role in Occidentalism; they try to highlight the U.S. position in introducing and presenting itself as the representative of Occidental world. In order to investigate all this and probe its characteristics, the paper is going to start with some pioneers who articulate and indicate to this American Occidental phenomenon. Edward Said, Avram Noam Chomsky and others are going to be read accordingly.

Dora Renna

This paper investigates translation issues emerging from the analysis of Spike Lee’s movie Get on the Bus (1996) and its Italian adaptation, Bus in Viaggio. The choice is motivated by African American Vernacular English (AAVE), used in the film by a group of men that get on the bus to reach the Million Man March in Washington (1995). During the journey, characters will confront each other on different topics, such as African American male identity in that precise moment and for the future, as well as their role within the black community. As in other movies by Spike Lee, the traditional and stereotyped media portrayal of African American people is challenged and subverted. This dialogical construction poses a set of challenges for the translator/adaptor, especially because it is characterised by a use of language that has no equivalent in Italian. (Un)translatability is the main focus of this research: can idiomatic expressions that are typical of a non-standard variety of English be translated? Which translation strategies have been used? These questions will be analysed through a reading of the speech patterns enacted by one of the characters, the wannabe Hollywood star Flip, a stereotyped portrait against whom each character will fight in order to affirm his identity.

Jasmin Wrobel

In this article we intend to demonstrate in how far the discussion about Latin American baroque and neo-baroque “catalysed” the approximations and cultural dialogues between Brazil and Hispanic America in the 20th century. The central axis of our analysis is the Brazilian poet, translator and critic Haroldo de Campos, who regretted the lack of approaches on several occasions and who tried to establish cultural bridges between both sides. After giving a short overview about his relationship to the Hispanic Literatures and his thoughts about a non-hierarchical conception of literature, we are going to focus on his theoretical considerations about the baroque as starting point to rethink Latin American Literature. Moreover, we intend to show some of the implicit and explicit literary dialogues between Brazil and Hispanic America which arised both from the historical and the neo-baroque.

Brandon J. Manley, John A. Brockman, Valary T. Raup et al.

ABSTRACT Introduction The use of multi-parametric (MP) MRI to diagnose prostate cancer has been the subject of intense research, with many studies showing positive results. The purpose of our study is to better understand the accessibility, role, and perceived accuracy of MP-MRI in practice by surveying practicing urologists. Materials and Methods Surveys were sent to 7,400 practicing American Urological Association member physicians with a current email address. The survey asked demographic information and addressed access, accuracy, cost, and role of prostate MRI in clinical practice. Results Our survey elicited 276 responses. Respondents felt that limited access and prohibitive cost of MP-MRI limits its use, 72% and 59% respectively. Academic urologists ordered more MP-MRI studies per year than those in private practice (43.3% vs. 21.1%; p<0.001). Urologists who performed more than 30 prostatectomies a year were more likely to feel that an MP-MRI would change their surgical approach (37.5% vs. 19.6%, p-value=0.002). Only 25% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that MP-MRI should be used in active surveillance. For patients with negative biopsies and elevated PSA, 39% reported MP-MRI to be very useful. Conclusions Our study found that MP-MRI use is most prominent among practitioners who are oncology fellowship-trained, practice at academic centers, and perform more than 30 prostatectomies per year. Limited access and prohibitive cost of MP-MRI may limit its utility in practice. Additionally, study participants perceive a lack of accuracy of MP-MRI, which is contrary to the recent literature.

Victoria Yu. Popova

In 1930s the USSR implements a number of projects aimed at spreading its influence in the world and consolidation of Soviet-Latin American contacts. Owing to the significant sociopolitical authority gained by Henri Barbusse and the popularity of his work in the New World, Comintern leaders make Barbusse a proposal to undertake a lecture-andpropaganda mission in South America to get in contact and forge relationships with the Latin American intellectual elite, literary and political organizations. The journey did not take place: Barbusse contracted pneumonia and died in Moscow on August 30th, 1935. Archival materials published herewith help to reconstruct the intended travel plans, objectives and main directions of Barbusse’s activity during the alleged trip.

Conseula Francis

Readers and critics alike, for the past sixty years, generally agree that Baldwin is a major African-American writer. What they do not agree on is why. Because of his artistic and intellectual complexity, Baldwin’s work resists easy categorization and Baldwin scholarship, consequently, spans the critical horizon. This essay provides an overview of the three major periods of Baldwin scholarship. 1963–73 is a period that begins with the publication of The Fire Next Time and sees Baldwin grace the cover of Time magazine. This period ends with Time declaring Baldwin too passé to publish an interview with him and with critics questioning his relevance. The second period, 1974–87, finds critics attempting to rehabilitate Baldwin’s reputation and work, especially as scholars begin to codify the African-American literary canon in anthologies and American universities. Finally, scholarship in the period after Baldwin’s death takes the opportunity to challenge common assumptions and silences surrounding Baldwin’s work. Armed with the methodologies of cultural studies and the critical insights of queer theory, critics set the stage for the current Baldwin renaissance.

Cécile Quintana

Dans le roman La muerte me da (2008) de la Mexicaine Cristina Rivera Garza, le crime, sous forme de meurtres en série, ne tombe jamais sous le coup de la morale qui le condamnerait au nom du Bien. Ce sont d’autres catégories purement littéraires et esthétiques qui fonctionnent pour le définir comme un mode d’énonciation et une performance artistique. « Otro cuerpo sin vida. Otro ciudadano. Signos de mutilación. (una manera de enunciar) » (p. 308). Les marques de mutilation – le pénis arraché – s’inscrivent comme autant de signes linguistiques à la surface des corps assassinés qui se transforment de ce fait en énoncés, tels que peut les mettre en scène l’art conceptuel. Dans ce contexte, les performeuses Gina Pane et Marina Abramovic des années 70 deviennent des personnages clés du roman, participant à l’enquête de façon tout aussi énigmatique qu’inquiétante. Ainsi, la réflexion se déplace sur le terrain de l’art et de ses limites pour proposer au final, à travers la prétendue élucidation des crimes par mutilation, de percer le secret du style comme fragmentation chez l’écrivaine Alejandra Pizarnik, dont l’écriture finit par devenir le véritable sujet du roman. Cristina Rivera Garza fait ainsi le pari audacieux mais non moins réussi d’inventer un genre : la critique littéraire comme fiction.

María Pia López

A large part of the Latin–American literature of the 19th and 20th century tried to deal with the national question intertwining different dimensions: the weight of colonial legacy, the cultural peculiarity of the nation and the inner relations between social classes and ethnic groups. Thinking the nation implied, in any case, to think the difference and the conflict with others, as well as the inner conflict and the logic of local colonialism. Analyzing some of these essays that played a central role in such process of recasting the origin of the nation, the author moves around three main axes: the formulation of dualist writings (colonial/national; white /indigenous; civilization/wilderness), the issue of language (the language inherited from the colonial experience versus the multilingual nature of indigenous Latin American societies), and the hypothesis about the birth of the nation – appointed to different groups – and its normal functioning as legitimization of the order sprung from independences.

The Editors

Notes on Contributors