PTSD and female military returnees from Iraq and Afghanistan： What does the evidence tell us？

In the United States of America, women make up almost 15% of active duty forces, while they form 11% of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also the first time in history that women have been directly involved in torturing men, with sexual identity and gender being used as instruments of torture. This paper focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder （PTSD） and female veterans by reviewing the available literature. Studies examining the psychological and physical health of women veterans as well as women＇s working and living conditions in the army are presented. The paper highlights the psychological processes women marines go through to establish themselves in the male dominated army environment and the implications such processes may have on their perception of female identity and on their psychological well-being. Studies on deployment experiences in relation to the emergence of PTSD in female military personnel are presented. Finally, the effects of veterans＇ PTSD on their familial relationships and psychological adjustment of family members are also considered, stressing the lack of relevant research with female veterans. In this new historical reality and as these women are called on, upon their return home, to resume female care giver roles, to become the primary caregivers to children, the elderly and those who are ill, we conclude by highlighting the urgent need for further research into the emergence of PTSD in female military returnees from and on their families. Iraq and Afghanistan and the effects this may have on them and on their families.     

Fifty years of creativity,crisis, and cancer in Uganda

Abstract

This article tells the story of the Uganda Cancer Institute over the past 50 years. I discuss the fundamental dynamism of research collaborations and the ways in which they bring vital yet partial investments in improving the capacity of medical facilities in sub-Saharan Africa. I explore the ways in which patient populations and the needs of caretakers themselves shape research collaborations. I also show how extreme oscillations in the capacity to conduct oncology research and provide care were (and are) tied not only to shifting international research priorities, but also to broader upheaval and periods of stability in Uganda since independence in 1962. Rather than dwelling on the debris, ruins, or an emptying of capacity in the health sector in Africa, this article highlights how this experimental infrastructure in East Africa not only survived, but also fundamentally shaped a culture of care and oncology practice that lived on.     

The European Commission–Appointment, preferences, and institutional relations

The paper analyzes the appointment of the European Commission as a strategic game between members of the European Parliament and the Council. The focal equilibrium results in commissioners that duplicate the policy preferences of national Council representatives. Different internal decision rules still prevent the Commission from being a Council clone in aggregate. Rather, it is predicted a priori that Commission policies are on average more in accord with the aggregate position of the Parliament than that of the Council. This prediction is confirmed for a dataset covering 66 dossiers with 162 controversial EU legislative proposals passed between 1999 and 2002.     

On-treatment predictions of success in peg-interferon/ribavirin treatment using a novel formula

AIM:To predict treatment success using only simple clinical data from peg-interferon plus ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C. METHODS:We analyzed the clinical data of 176 patients with chronic hepatitis and hepatitis C virus genotype 1 who received 48 wk standard therapy, derived a predictive formula to assess a sustained virological response of the individual patient using a logistic regression model and confirmed the validity of this formula.The formula was constructed using data from the first 100...     

“It Happens All the Time”: Women’s Experiences and Normalization of Sexual Harassment in Public Space

This study explored the prevalence of sexual harassment, consequences of harassment, and reasons for not reporting these experiences through a survey among Swedish female university students (N?=?1941). One fourth reported one or more incidents of sexual harassment during the 12 months period prior to the survey. Victims were more often younger and with Swedish-born parents compared with nonvictims. Victimization most frequently occurred at clubs or restaurants and the most frequently reported consequences were anger and worry about being victimized again. Few reported the incidents to the police making this, in part, an invisible problem.     

The Effects of the Value-Added Tax on Revenue and Inequality

This paper examines the impact of the introduction of the value-added tax on inequality and government revenues using newly released macro data. We present both conventional country fixed effect regressions and instrumental variable analyses, where VAT adoption is instrumented using the previous values of neighbouring countries’ VAT systems as an instrument. The results reveal – in contrast to earlier work – that the revenue consequences of the VAT have not been positive. The results indicate that income-based inequality has increased due to the VAT adoption, whereas consumption inequality has remained unaffected.     

How China Became an ’ArcticState’

China’s permanent observership to the Arctic Council is clearly a great step forward for all Arctic states and indigenous groups.Going further,it offers indisputable proof of what Chinese strategists have understood since 2009 in terms of how one non-Arctic state must act to work its way into a region in