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New Obama Administration Policy To Allow U.S. Asylum For Abused Foreign Women
A recent Obama administration legal filing clears the way for foreign women who have experienced severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse to receive asylum in the U.S., the New York Times reports. The administration stated its position in an April immigration appeals court filing involving a Mexican woman, identified only by her initials, who is seeking asylum in the U.S. because of fear that her abusive common-law husband would kill her. The Times reports that the woman recently consented to having her confidential case documents disclosed to the newspaper.The filing reverses the government"s stance under former President George W. Bush. According to the Times, lawyers say that the Obama administration "has marked a clear, although narrow, pathway for battered women seeking asylum, ... after 13 years of tangled court arguments." Bush administration lawyers had argued as recently as last year that the Mexican woman and others like her could not meet the standards of U.S. asylum law, the Times reports. Applicants for U.S. asylums or refugee status must show a "well-founded fear of persecution" because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or "membership in a particular social group." The legal debate has been whether women can be included under those terms. According to the Obama administration"s court filing, foreign women who experience abuse would have to prove that their abusers treat them as subordinates and little better than property. They would also have to show that abuse is widely accepted in their country. In addition, they would need to demonstrate that they are unable to find protections from their countries" institutions or by moving somewhere else in their country. The policy does not apply to women fleeing genital mutilation, the Times reports. The Department of Homeland Security has not recommended asylum for the woman. However, DHS senior lawyers wrote in the filing that "it is possible" for her "and other applicants who have experienced domestic violence could qualify for asylum."Under the Clinton administration, Attorney General Janet Reno proposed regulations to clarify the asylum law, but they have never taken effect. DHS lawyers in 2004 raised the possibility of asylum for domestic violence victims, but it was never put into practice in immigration court, according to Karen Musalo, director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. "This really opens the door to the protection of women who have suffered these kinds of violations," Musalo said. DHS officials said they now are returning to the 2004 position of stipulating conditions narrow enough to allow domestic violence victims to gain asylum in only a limited number of cases. Matt Chandler, a DHS spokesperson, said, "Although each case is highly fact-dependent and requires scrutiny of the specific threat an applicant faces, the department continues to view domestic violence as a possible basis for asylum in the United States" (Preston, New York Times, 7/16).
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Columnist Examines Group's Effort To Urge CVS To Keep All Condoms Unlocked In Stores
Tennessean columnist Getahn Ward examined the "Cure CVS: Unlock the Condoms Initiative," led by the group Change to Win, which claims that the pharmacy chain"s practice of locking up some condoms in certain neighborhoods might decrease access for young adults and minorities, potentially increasing their risk of HIV and unintended pregnancy. CVS contends that the practice is used as a theft deterrent but said it does have some condoms available that are not locked up. Officials from Walgreens say their stores do not lock up condoms, and Rite Aid officials say they do not have a specific policy in place, but access to some personal items, including condoms, does require the assistance of an associate at stores with much theft (Ward, Tennessean, 6/17).
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New Journal To Be Published By SAGE In 2010: Social Psychological And Personality Science
SAGE, the world"s fifth largest publisher of academic journals, is pleased to announce the January 2010 launch of a new quarterly journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS).
Mental Health

Israeli Scientists Show Bacteria Can Plan Ahead

Bacteria can anticipate a future event and prepare for it, according to new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In a paper that appeared today in Nature, Prof. Yitzhak Pilpel, doctoral student Amir Mitchell and research associate Dr. Orna Dahan of the Institute"s Molecular Genetics Department, together with Prof. Martin Kupiec and Gal Romano of Tel Aviv University, examined microorganisms living in environments that change in predictable ways. Their findings show that these microorganisms" genetic networks are hard-wired to "foresee" what comes next in the sequence of events and begin responding to the new state of affairs before its onset. E. coli bacteria, for instance, which normally cruise harmlessly down the digestive tract, encounter a number of different environments on their way. In particular, they find that one type of sugar - lactose - is invariably followed by a second sugar - maltose - soon afterward. Pilpel and his team of the Molecular Genetics Department, checked the bacterium"s genetic response to lactose, and found that, in addition to the genes that enable it to digest lactose, the gene network for utilizing maltose was partially activated. When they switched the order of the sugars, giving the bacteria maltose first, there was no corresponding activation of lactose genes, implying that bacteria have naturally "learned" to get ready for a serving of maltose after a lactose appetizer. Another microorganism that experiences consistent changes is wine yeast. As fermentation progresses, sugar and acidity levels change, alcohol levels rise, and the yeast"s environment heats up. Although the system was somewhat more complicated that that of E. coli, the scientists found that when the wine yeast feel the heat, they begin activating genes for dealing with the stresses of the next stage. Further analysis showed that this anticipation and early response is an evolutionary adaptation that increases the organism"s chances of survival. Ivan Pavlov first demonstrated this type of adaptive anticipation, known as a conditioned response, in dogs in the 1890s. He trained the dogs to salivate in response to a stimulus by repeatedly ringing a bell before giving them food. In the microorganisms, says Pilpel, "evolution over many generations replaces conditioned learning, but the end result is similar." "In both evolution and learning," says Mitchell, "the organism adapts its responses to environmental cues, improving its ability to survive." Romano: "This is not a generalized stress response, but one that is precisely geared to an anticipated event." To see whether the microorganisms were truly exhibiting a conditioned response, Pilpel and Mitchell devised a further test for the E. coli based on another of Pavlov"s experiments. When Pavlov stopped giving the dogs food after ringing the bell, the conditioned response faded until they eventually ceased salivating at its sound. The scientists did something similar, using bacteria grown by Dr. Erez Dekel, in the lab of Prof. Uri Alon of the Molecular Cell Biology Department, in an environment containing the first sugar, lactose, but not following it up with maltose. After several months, the bacteria had evolved to stop activating their maltose genes at the taste of lactose, only turning them on when maltose was actually available. "This showed us that there is a cost to advanced preparation, but that the benefits to the organism outweigh the costs in the right circumstances," says Pilpel. What are those circumstances? Based on the experimental evidence, the research team created a sort of cost/benefit model to predict the types of situations in which an organism could increase its chances of survival by evolving to anticipate future events. They are already planning a number of new tests for their model, as well as different avenues of experimentation based on the insights they have gained. Pilpel and his team believe that genetic conditioned response may be a widespread means of evolutionary adaptation that enhances survival in many organisms - one that may also take place in the cells of higher organisms, including humans. These findings could have practical implications, as well. Genetically engineered microorganisms for fermenting plant materials to produce biofuels, for example, might work more efficiently if they gained the genetic ability to prepare themselves for the next step in the process. Notes: Prof. Yitzhak Pilpel"s research is supported by the Ben May Charitable Trust and Madame Huguette Nazez, Paris, France. The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world"s top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,600 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment. Yivsam Azgad Weizmann Institute of Science


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