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Theoretical explanation of sexual harassment can be given by implementing the three narrative approaches of the personal narrative, the case study and the interactive narrative or the collective story. These three forms of narrative, employing a feminist pedagogical stance, raise consciousness about sexual harassment. The utilization of these approaches in academic settings shows that the approaches can provide heuristic tools for the teacher and strategies for the workplace practitioner. However, each of the three approaches suffers certain shortcomings.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup agricultural herbicides and other herbicide formulations that are widely used for agricultural, forestry, and residential weed control. As part of the Farm Family Exposure Study, we evaluated urinary glyphosate concentrations for 48 farmers, their spouses, and their 79 children (4-18 years of age). We evaluated 24-hr composite urine samples for each family member the day before, the day of, and for 3 days after a glyphosate application. Sixty percent of farmers had detectable levels of glyphosate in their urine on the day of application. The geometric mean (GM) concentration was 3 ppb, the maximum value was 233 ppb, and the highest estimated systemic dose was 0.004 mg/kg. Farmers who did not use rubber gloves had higher GM urinary concentrations than did other farmers (10 ppb vs. 2.0 ppb). For spouses, 4% had detectable levels in their urine on the day of application. Their maximum value was 3 ppb. For children, 12% had detectable glyphosate in their urine on the day of application, with a maximum concentration of 29 ppb. All but one of the children with detectable concentrations had helped with the application or were present during herbicide mixing, loading, or application. None of the systemic doses estimated in this study approached the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reference dose for glyphosate of 2 mg/kg/day. Nonetheless, it is advisable to minimize exposure to pesticides, and this study did identify specific practices that could be modified to reduce the potential for exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between pulmonary obstruction (e.g., asthma) and occupational exposure to methyl cyanoacrylate (MCA) and ethyl cyanoacrylate (ECA) was examined in an occupational cohort of 450 persons at an adhesive production facility in Puerto Rico. Employee medical records containing information on physical examinations and pulmonary function tests (PFTs), as well as occupational histories, on each employee over a period of about 17 yr and industrial hygiene measurements were evaluated. The cohort analysis was based on a Cox proportional hazards model. Workers exposed to ECA or MCA were compared to workers unexposed to these chemicals with respect to their risk of becoming an ''incident case. An ''incident case was defined as any per son whose PFTs were normal at the time of employment, but later demonstrated an obstructive pattern, which was defined as a decline in the ratio of forced expiratory volume exhaled in 1 s to forced vital capacity (FEV /FVC) below 70%. A separate casecontrol analysis was also conducted that compared ''suspected cases, defined as all those whose PFTs ever demonstrated an obstructive pattern (e.g., asthma), to persons whose PFTs remained within normal limits throughout their employment with respect to their past peak and cumulative exposures to cyanoacrylates. All of these analyses showed no evidence that exposure to average short-term concentrations of ECA or MCA of less than 0.5 ppm and occasional daily peak exposures of at least 1.5 ppm (usually 10 min or less), with occasional higher concentrations during spills, were associated with an increased risk of pulmonary obstruction. However, the study suggested that persons occupationally exposed to cyanoacrylates were more likely to have some reversible eye or upper airway irritation than persons who were unexposed. 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Both bead and cell-based assays for HLA antibody detection can be impacted by non-specific background staining. In some (but not all) instances, adsorption of serum with control beads prior to testing reduces background. Herein we demonstrate that the addition of small amounts of FBS to patient sera can reduce or eliminate non-specific background activity. Methods: Briefly, 5ul of heat-inactivated FBS was added to 50ul of patient or control serum. Samples were incubated from 0-30 minutes and then centrifuged before testing in bead or cell-based assays. Results: Informative patient’s sera were treated with FBS and tested by FlowPRA, LABScreen Single Antigen Beads and flow crossmatch. Following treatment, 3 general patterns were observed:1) No effect on sera exhibiting well-defined HLA antibody specificities; 2) Improved resolution of true HLA antibodies in bead and cell based assays among sera with questionable (but real) antibodies; 3) Elimination of spurious activity among sera devoid of HLA antibody activity. FBS Treatment of beads alone had no effect.[figure1] Conclusions: Many variables can contribute to high background staining in HLA antibody testing for which there are few remedies. These high backgrounds can confound/preclude the detection of true HLA antibody. Here we describe a simple procedure that can significantly reduce non-specific binding. FBS treatment allows easy resolution of true positive results from spurious background staining without any apparent loss in sensitivity and specificity. While its mechanism is unknown, we speculate that FBS treatment provides target antigens that block the binding of naturally occurring heterophile antibodies to beads and cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]