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Adoption Ouroboros: Repeating the Cycle of Adoption as Rescue
Get PDFOuroboros—the circular symbol of the snake eating its tail; an endless cycle. As the U.S. recently withdrew from Afghanistan in chaos and Russia invaded Ukraine, the attention of Americans turned, as it frequently has in times of international conflict, to the plight of children in need of rescue. For many Americans, rescue is synonymous with adoption. The history of international adoption began with rescues following America’s wars in Europe and Asia and continues today through other violent upheavals. International adoption is an ouroboros, repeating the pattern of adoption as a response to humanitarian crises. But as human and charitable as the impulse to adopt children in crisis may be, it is often not in the best interests of children. They are separated from family, and perhaps never reunited. Their identities may be lost in the scramble to get them to safety. They may be trafficked rather than adopted through reputable means. In the midst of a highly disruptive crisis, their lives are further disrupted by being removed from their usual support networks—family and community. And once international adoption begins in a country in crisis, it continues long after the crisis ends, motivated by neocolonial impulses and financial motives. The often-destructive effects of international adoption in the midst of crises are furthered by the general lax regulation of international adoption. The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, as interpreted in the U.S., does not offer sufficient protection, and the U.S. fails to utilize all its available resources to prevent children being trafficked into international adoption by refusing to categorize illegal adoption as human trafficking. As the temptation to rescue children increases, the U.S. needs to do more to prevent the ouroboros of international adoption as a response to humanitarian crises
Correction: The heart of Detroit study: a window into urban middle-aged and older African Americans’ daily lives to understand psychosocial determinants of cardiovascular disease risk (BMC Psychiatry, (2023), 23, 1, (766), 10.1186/s12888-023-05148-2)
Get PDFFollowing publication of the original article [1], the authors identified an error in the author name of Phillip Levy. The incorrect author name is: Philip Levy. The correct author name is: Phillip Levy. The author group has been updated above and the original article [1] has been corrected
Pathogenic Leptospira are widespread in the urban wildlife of southern California
Get PDFLeptospirosis, the most widespread zoonotic disease in the world, is broadly understudied in multi-host wildlife systems. Knowledge gaps regarding Leptospira circulation in wildlife, particularly in densely populated areas, contribute to frequent misdiagnoses in humans and domestic animals. We assessed Leptospira prevalence levels and risk factors in five target wildlife species across the greater Los Angeles region: striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), raccoons (Procyon lotor), coyotes (Canis latrans), Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), and fox squirrels (Sciurus niger). We sampled more than 960 individual animals, including over 700 from target species in the greater Los Angeles region, and an additional 266 sampled opportunistically from other California regions and species. In the five target species seroprevalences ranged from 5 to 60%, and infection prevalences ranged from 0.8 to 15.2% in all except fox squirrels (0%). Leptospira phylogenomics and patterns of serologic reactivity suggest that mainland terrestrial wildlife, particularly mesocarnivores, could be the source of repeated observed introductions of Leptospira into local marine and island ecosystems. Overall, we found evidence of widespread Leptospira exposure in wildlife across Los Angeles and surrounding regions. This indicates exposure risk for humans and domestic animals and highlights that this pathogen can circulate endemically in many wildlife species even in densely populated urban areas
Exploring breast tissue microbial composition and the association with breast cancer risk factors
Get PDFBackground: Microbial dysbiosis has emerged as an important element in the development and progression of various cancers, including breast cancer. However, the microbial composition of the breast from healthy individuals, even relative to risk of developing breast cancer, remains unclear. Here, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the microbiota of the normal breast tissue, which was analyzed in relation to the microbial composition of the tumor and adjacent normal tissue. Methods: The study cohorts included 403 cancer-free women (who donated normal breast tissue cores) and 76 breast cancer patients (who donated tumor and/or adjacent normal tissue samples). Microbiome profiling was obtained by sequencing the nine hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene (V1V2, V2V3, V3V4, V4V5, V5V7, and V7V9). Transcriptome analysis was also performed on 190 normal breast tissue samples. Breast cancer risk score was assessed using the Tyrer-Cuzick risk model. Results: The V1V2 amplicon sequencing resulted more suitable for the analysis of the normal breast microbiome and identified Lactobacillaceae (Firmicutes phylum), Acetobacterraceae, and Xanthomonadaceae (both Proteobacteria phylum) as the most abundant families in the normal breast. However, Ralstonia (Proteobacteria phylum) was more abundant in both breast tumors and histologically normal tissues adjacent to malignant tumors. We also conducted a correlation analysis between the microbiome and known breast cancer risk factors. Abundances of the bacterial taxa Acetotobacter aceti, Lactobacillus vini, Lactobacillus paracasei, and Xanthonomas sp. were associated with age (p \u3c 0.0001), racial background (p \u3c 0.0001), and parity (p \u3c 0.0001). Finally, transcriptome analysis of normal breast tissues showed an enrichment in metabolism- and immune-related genes in the tissues with abundant Acetotobacter aceti, Lactobacillus vini, Lactobacillus paracasei, and Xanthonomas sp., whereas the presence of Ralstonia in the normal tissue was linked to dysregulation of genes involved in the carbohydrate metabolic pathway. Conclusions: This study defines the microbial features of normal breast tissue, thus providing a basis to understand cancer-related dysbiosis. Moreover, the findings reveal that lifestyle factors can significantly affect the normal breast microbial composition