61 Matching Annotations
  1. Mar 2016
    1. The finding of an association between ZIKV infection and hydrops fetalis suggests that thevirus may cause damage to tissues in addition to the fetal central nervous system.

      The authors claim that Zika virus leads to not only microcephaly, but also Hydrops fetalis which occurs when abnormal amounts of fluid build up in two or more body areas of a fetus or newborn.

    2. Given that large numbers of pregnant women in the region havebeen or will be exposed to this strain, systematic investigation of spontaneous abortions andstillbirths may be warranted to evaluate the risk that ZIKV infection imparts on theseoutcomes.

      The authors are forecasting that Zika virus will bring about large numbers of abortions and stillbirths in infected pregnant women across the Americas and Caribbean. The authors stand neuter about the abortion issue.

    3. We cannot extrapolate from this single case the overall risk for developing hydrops fetalisand fetal demise among pregnant women exposed to the virus.

      The authors acknowledge their research have a problem which is difficult to generalize from a single example. The purpose of the investigation aims at raising public awareness about the risk of Zika virus to fetal.

    4. The first indication of an abnormal pregnancy was theultrasound finding of intrauterine growth retardation in the 18thgestational week.

      This sentence indicates that abnormal fetus infected Zika virus can identify after 18 weeks gestation. Abortion at this point in a pregnancy is rare and hard to come by. Therefore, it makes more difficult to have abortion.

    5. Since the majority (73%) of ZIKV infections are asymptomatic [10], it is likely that expo-sures in pregnant women, such as in the case of our patient, often go unnoticed.

      That is why Zika virus is dangerous to pregnant women because they are hard to notice whether they are infected or not.

    6. Furthermore, it serves as an alert to cli-nicians that in addition to central nervous system and ophthalmological manifestations [6,7,9],congenital ZIKV infection may cause hydrops fetalis and fetal demise.

      In its final analysis, the authors state a hypothesis that Zika virus could lead to hydrops fetalis and fetal demise by using a research.

    7. This case report of a fetus provides additional evidencefor the link between ZIKV infection and microcephaly.

      This is the major core content in the Scholarly Journal that finds the connection between Zika and microcephaly based on a case study from a Brazil Woman. While reading article, the audience can easily find difference between Popular Articles and Scholarly article. It is written by researchers and scholars from various medical institution, generally uses scholarly language such as ZIKV(zika virus), Hydrops, and Hydranencephaly. Also, it includes full citations on the bottom of article. Therefore, it is more difficult to appeal to the general public than Popular Article, but it includes accurate evidences which are actual ultrasound views and gives an exact definition about Zika virus by developing logos.

    8. While conducting an outbreak investigation in Salvador, Brazil, we identified a patient whowas referred to Hospital Geral Roberto Santos with an abnormal fetal ultrasound examinationand followed during outpatient evaluations.

      The authors attached four abnormal fetal ultrasound views in the article, so it gain credibility from the audience by using the viewable evidences. Also, it can help the audience better understand their main hypothesis.

    9. A large increase in the number ofnewborns with microcephaly was subsequently identified in Brazil in November 2015. At pres-ent, more than 4,500 microcephaly cases have been reported [4].

      Zika virus have been reported with the increase in microcephaly more than 4,500 cases. Therefore, it is highly possible with the connection between Zika and microcephaly.

    10. The current outbreak of microcephaly has raised speculations that Zika virus (ZIKV) causes acongenital syndrome. ZIKV, a mosquito-borne flavivirus, was detected in Brazil in early 2015[1,2] and has rapidly spread throughout the Americas [3].

      The authors emphasize that Zika virus is not only problem of Brazil, but also entire Americas.

    11. The case report provides evidence that in addition to microcephaly,there may be a link between Zika virus infection and hydrops fetalis and fetal demise.

      The authors suggest their theory and point out that Zika virus is a devastating disease to fetus because it can lead to fetal demise.

    12. The rapid spread of Zika virus in the Americas and current outbreak of microcephaly in Bra-zil has raised attention to the possible deleterious effects that the virus may have onfetuses.

      This is background of the scholarly journal that Zika virus and microcephaly would have some connection.

    13. This case report provides evidence that in addition to microcephaly, there may be a linkbetween Zika virus infection and hydrops fetalis and fetal demise.

      The authors report a case of a 20-year-old woman who was referred to their service after Zika virus outbreak. An induced labor was performed at the 32 weeks due to fetal demise. The authors formulate a hypothesis that Zika virus infection may have relevance to stillbirths. Although it has some persuasive points, their delivery could have been effective by developing more evidences. They commit the logical fallacy called sweeping generalization. It is nonsense to generalize to use just one case of stillbirth. To gain credibility, they need to find more examples about the case.

    14. The rapid spread of Zika virus in the Americas and outbreak of microcephaly in Brazil hasraised attention to the possible deleterious effects that the virus may have on fetuses.

      Most of the audience already acknowledge a correlation between Zika virus and Microcephaly. The authors calculate that Zika virus may result in other possible harmful effects on fetus.

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    1. The final sample size included 2,364respondents, who were selected and interviewed using a multistage probabilistic survey design.

      The total population in Brazil was recorded at 204.5 million people in 2015. In my opinion, the whole number of people for the survey is too small to generalize as the most of nations’ views. The survey reflect only one out of hundred-thousandth of the entire population of Brazil.

    2. Our study of religion and abortion attitudes in Brazil utilizes data from the Brazilian SocialResearch Survey (BSRS).2The BSRS is a nationally representative survey of the Brazilian adultpopulation age 18 years and older that was administered in 2002 with the objective to explorepublic attitudes and values on a range of social issues.

      The research depends on the authority of the Brazilian Social Research Survey (BSRS) to gain credibility from the audience.

    3. Given these considerations, the purpose of our study is toexamine the association between religion and abortion issues in Brazil with regard to the practiceof abortion and abortion policy.

      The authors state why they write this scholar journal. It has a scholarly significance to perform the first research which explores the association between religion and abortion attitudes among the Brazilian population.

    4. The Catholic Church’s pro-family discourse and oppositionto abortion is well documented, yet there has not been a systematic investigation of sentimentsabout the practice and policy preferences concerning its legalization among the Catholic laity.

      Although Catholic Church’s official dictum is strongly against abortion, the authors suggest that the Catholic laity’s opinion may different from it. It can lead the further research.

    5. Research has yet to examine the role of religious factors on abortion attitudes in Brazil.

      The authors present a hypothesis that role of religious factors is related to the abortion attitude in Brazil. There are no published research that reveals the link between religion and public policy in Brazil up to now. Therefore, the authors give the United States’ research result to gain credibility from the audience. However, Brazil has different socioeconomic situation such as the per capita national income, gross domestic product (GDP), or a political posture from the U.S. In my opinion, the authors committee the logical fallacy. It is nonsense to apply the study in Brazil which has different circumstances from the U.S.

    6. The official doctrinal position that abortion is a grave sin is widely disseminated,and under the direct influence of the Vatican and guided by the belief that the “right to life beginsat conception,” the Catholic Church in Brazil has consistently demonstrated opposition to thelegalization of abortion and has propagated this view in a clear manner among its followers.

      Catholic leaders still cling to their position strictly that no abortion or contraception for Zika virus.

    7. Consequently, the push to legalizeabortion, at the same time garnering opposition from religious groups, has also become a salientissue for international women’s rights movements and health organizations (Correa 2010).

      This sentence regards Brazil as one of the country which has a great influence of religion. Every policy should consider religious groups’ opinions.

    8. A recent groundbreaking study, however, us-ing a ballot box technique to ensure complete anonymity for respondents, found that more thanone-fifth of Brazilian women living in urban areas had received at least one abortion by the endof reproductive age (Diniz and Medeiros 2010).

      These statistics is shocking that 25% of Brazilian women had received at least one abortion. The unproven process of illegal abortion can potentially make a negative effect on female health outcome. The situation will be exacerbated due to Zika virus. The Brazil government should prepare several measures before it is too late.

    9. collecting accurate estimates of its actual incidence has been a challenging exercisefor researchers

      It shows that Brazil has hostile condition to get an accurate rate about receiving illegal abortion because the women who report abortions receive the fear of social and legal sanctions.

    10. Since 1940, abortion has been illegal in Brazil, except in cases of rape or when the woman’slife is at risk. Despite legislative efforts to liberalize the law, especially from feminist organiza-tions, the current law has not changed significantly since becoming a statute (Correa 2010; Rocha2006).

      Historically, the abortion have been prohibited for 76 years in Brazil. The citizens have already recognized that abortion is illegal and they accept the reality and adapt themselves. That is why it is hard to change the abortion law although unsafe illegal abortions in Brazil are widespread and pose a significant health risk for women. However, Zika virus outbreak has prompted quite a commotion in public, so it may affect to revise the abortion law completely.

    11. During theinterim period between the first and second round of elections, the public opposition expressedby the Catholic Church and evangelical groups over Rousseff’s position on abortion promptedher to change her position and draft a letter promising not to change the abortion law if she wereelected president.

      Dilma Rousseff is the first female elected president in Brazil. Although she was heavily popular with the public, she faced tough competition due to her position on favoring the legalization of abortion. This episode illustrates that the abortion is not only women’s rights problems but also a divisive cultural issue with moral and religious dimensions.

    12. The most recent presidential election in Brazil, in November 2010, was marked by a con-tentious public debate over the practice of abortion and the future of abortion policy in thecountry (see Correa 2010).

      The audience can foresee the situation that a discussion on abortion and its policy in Brazil will be heated by a dramatic rise of Zika virus.

    13. This study examines the association between religion and attitudes toward the practice of abortion and abortionpolicy in Brazil.

      The authors formulate a hypothesis that Pentecostals and Catholics tends to the strongest opposition against the practice of abortion and its legalization.

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    1. Among students, religion not being importantand having no religion were associated with beingin favour of permitting abortion in any circum-stance and being against putting a woman whohad had an abortion in jail (p<0.001).

      The medical students who do not have any religion tend to support the abortion for any occasion. The audience can recognize that the religious conviction is related to a controversial issue such as abortion.

    2. The proportion of medical students whoagreed that abortion should be allowed wasalways larger than the corresponding proportionof civil servants.

      The medical students is younger generation than the civil servants. The research reveals that the rising generation has more flexible and acceptable opinion about the abortion than middle-aged people.

    3. We carried out two cross-sectional, descriptivesurveys, one with civil servants from a São PauloState public institution and the other with medi-cal students from three medical schools, also inSão Paulo State. Two different questionnaireswere used for the civil servants and the medicalstudents (Box 1), consisting of questions with pre-coded response categories for self-completion.

      The authors amplify who the subject of the survey is and what kind of methods they used, so it can gain the credibility from the audience. However, it is difficult to generalize as all nations’ opinions because the authors choose only two groups to conduct their survey.

    4. Considering that the answersobtained in surveys depends in great part on howthe questions are formulated, the aim of thisstudy was to compare the answers to generalquestions about the circumstances under whichthe respondents thought abortion should beallowed, with the answers of the same respon-dents to the question of whether a woman whohas had an illegal abortion should be sent toprison as the law mandates.

      This is the purpose of the article. The authors maintain a neutral stance about an abortion issue in the whole article.

    5. Cur-rently, the Penal Code is under review in the Par-liament, causing a heated debate betweenrepresentatives of the Catholic and Protestantchurches and those who defend women’s sexualand reproductive rights.

      The Penal Code about abortion is still under review and it has become a hot issue while Zika virus is spreading quickly in Brazil. Although many people advocate women’s sexual and reproductive right, religion has much influence in changing the law in Brzail. Therefore, it will be difficult to amend the current abortion law.

    6. In Brazil, the Penal Code dates from 1940 andestablishes that abortion is a crime but notpunishable in three cases: if the woman’s lifeis at risk, if pregnancy results from rape, andmore recently (since a court judgement in 2012)in cases of fetal anencephaly.7All other abor-tions are punishable with 1–10 years in prisonboth for the woman and for the person whocarried out the abortion.

      In my opinion, Brazil government should provide the proper education of contraceptives to public before they strictly ban abortion in law. Effective birth control methods can reduce the illegal abortion rate from unwanted pregnancies.

    7. One belief is that if abortion is criminalized,women will have fewer abortions than in an envi-ronment of liberal laws and easy access to safeabortions.5Experience shows this is not realistic,however; in fact, in countries where abortion islegally restricted women have more abortionsthan those living under more liberal laws.

      This is interesting because it breaks a common notion that the country which restricts abortion would have fewer abortions than people who are living in liberal laws. The author claims that abortion rates is related to women’s access to and use of effective contraceptive methods. The audience realizes the importance of education which is the correct use of contraceptives.

    8. The treatment ofabortion in these Penal Codes has remained almostunchanged (with a few exceptions), mostly underthe pressure of religions that traditionally opposeabortion, particularly the Catholic Church andother Christian faiths in Latin America.

      A religious belief in one society have a significant impact on the law.

    9. Unsafe abortions will continue to be a burdenfor the health and well-being of women in coun-tries where very restrictive abortion laws make ita crime.

      Looking through the sentence shows that a country with very restrictive abortion laws considers abortion as crime. Most of those countries are strict Catholic nations. The Vatican’s teaching on abortion is clear: It is a sin.

    10. According to the most recent global estimates,while the total number of induced abortionsdeclined between 2003 and 2008, the numberof unsafe abortions increased proportionately.

      The authors raise a problem about the unsafe abortions. Although the total number of abortions declined around the globe, the unsafe abortions subsequently increased. They claims that it virtually escalates the overall abortions rates. The poor women with unwanted pregnancy go unlicensed practitioners and it causes a greater health hazards such as anemia, cervical trauma, and even death.

    11. Brazilian parliamentarians who are currently reviewinga reform in the Penal Code need to have this information urgently.

      In fact, the abortion law in Brazil has not been changed.

    12. This paper presents the findingsfrom two studies. One was carried out in February–December 2010 among 1,660 public servants and the otherin February–July 2011 with 874 medical students from three medical schools, both in São Paulo State, Brazil.Both groups of respondents were asked two sets of questions to obtain their opinion about abortion:

      This article is based on surveys and opinion polls. The majority of respondents are against the current Brazilian law that women who had had an abortion should be punished with prison. In my opinion, the present legislation about abortion in Brazil is very strict and it needs to be revised under the extreme conditions of Zika virus and microcephaly.

    13. Unsafe abortions remain a major public health problem in countries with very restrictiveabortion laws.

      Although Latin America has very restrictive abortion law, unsafe abortion was common. Now, Zika virus has emerged as a serious social problem, so the audience can anticipate the current situation of Latin America that dangerous abortions would increase more than before.

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    1. What do we do if a few months from now, when mosquito season arrives, hundreds or thousands of low-income women in Texas and Florida find themselves pregnant with fetuses that show severe brain damage? What does ethical behavior look like in the here and now, in this political reality?

      At the end of the article, the author makes the audience think themselves what an ethical behavior is in the fiercely urgent situation about Zika virus.

    2. Garland-Thomson isn’t unsympathetic to this argument, but she notes that it wouldn’t hold water were we to substitute race of gender for disability. She blames the lack of public knowledge about the lives of people with disabilities for the widespread belief that ability-selective abortions are normal, desirable and ethical.

      The author concurs with Garland-Thomson’s argument that ability-selective abortion is unethical because it is a kind of set of discriminatory attitudes and practices against disabled people. Also, she claims that it should be a very deliberative process about considering their choices to terminate a pregnancy for anti-abortion movement.

    3. "It's days off work, it's out-of-pocket therapies until diagnoses kick in, it's fighting your insurance, it's becoming a full-time advocate," she continued. "A kid with disabilities born into poverty should be able to receive adequate support and care, and we just do not provide that.”

      These are a series of tweets written by Nicole Cliffe who is the editor of The Toast and the mother of a special needs child. I can read her feeling of frustration about raising a child with a complex impairment. In my opinion, the government cannot force women to bring children with disabilities without enough financial aid, education, and services.

    4. She acknowledges that there are very real challenges involved in parenting a child with disabilities. Raising special needs children can be enormously resource-intensive, and is often done with limited government or other structural support.

      The author claims that social welfare system for the handicapped should promote to establish a society which treasures life and does not throw it away simply because of fetal abnormalities.

    5. That having a child with a disability is undesirable is usually taken as a given, not just by pro-choice advocates, but by much of U.S. society.

      This sentence shows one of the most awkward and uncomfortable truth in our society. No parents are prepared or would want to have a disabled child.

    6. Embedded in the calls for re-examining abortion policies as Zika looms is the assumption that aborting a fetus with microcephaly is ethical and that women will want and should have the right to ability-selective abortions. There’s little room, in the usual pro-choice argument, for the notion that that disabled child has the right to exist, or for questioning the notion that life with a disability is inherently worse than life without one.

      The author criticizes sharply against abortion rights advocates. They have bias against the disabled that their quality of life would be lower than the non-disabled.

    7. Likewise, people with disabilities have long been subject to reproductive coercion, from the abandonment of newborns with disabilities to mandatory sterilization of women with disabilities. They have, said Garland-Thomson, “been eugenically eliminated from the world through selective abortion and other biomedical practices.”

      The author states with the authority of Rosemarie Garland-Thomson who is a professor of English at Emory University and a pioneer of the discipline of disability studies. Disabilities’ reproductive coercion in historical event arouses the audience’s sympathy by using pathos. Her delivery is effective because she make an emotional appeal to emphasize the right of the disabled.

    8. But if what the WHO calls an “explosion” of Zika does indeed lead to an uptick in fetal abnormalities in the U.S., the abortion rights movement faces another problem: a coming clash with the disability rights movement.

      In the outbreak of Zika virus, the author raises a problem about an upcoming clash between the abortion rights and the disability rights. She claims that rights of disabilities to exist should be respected and should not be violated by the rights of a woman to have abortion.

    9. Here in the U.S., officials have stayed mum on the topic, but abortion rights advocates are rightly wondering what an increase in fetal abnormalities would mean at a time where abortion restrictions -- from lengthy waiting periods to laws designed to shutter clinics -- have left millions of American women without access to abortion care.

      The author brings up a subject that Zika virus and abortion is not just Latin America issue, but also the United States. This sentences are coded criticisms against the U.S government which has been silent on Zika virus issue.

    10. In El Salvador, where abortion is completely outlawed, the government has advised women to simply not get pregnant until 2018.

      The author exemplifies one country in Latin America how El Salvador takes emergency steps to deal with Zika virus. The government of El Salvador suggest women to delay their pregnancy until 2018. In my opinion, they show an irresponsible attitude about the current state of affairs. They should provide necessary information, education, and contraceptives for their nation to avoid pregnancy.

    11. Zika Virus Threat Puts Abortion Rights And Disability Rights On Collision Course

      The title of the article stimulates audience’s curiosity how Zika virus leads to collision course between abortion right and disability right.

    12. As more cases of Zika virus pop up in the U.S., abortion rights advocates are raising concerns about whether harsh abortion restrictions will affect pregnant women’s ability to terminate pregnancies if they’re infected with the virus. Zika has been linked to microcephaly, in which babies are born with underdeveloped brains and abnormally small heads. Some cases seen in Brazil and elsewhere in the Americas have been severe.

      Latin America which has a serious medical problem due to Zika virus and the United States are geographically close. The author predicts that Zika virus will make hundreds or thousands of fetus with microcephaly in the U.S when mosquito seasons arrive. Also, she states that Zika virus will arouse controversy about abortion right because abortion laws vary in each state.

    1. Women need to be given the power to manage their own pregnancies.

      The author gives directly her argument that women should manage not only contraceptives, but also abortion. She claims that abortion is a right.

    2. Public health clinics in poor communities rarely offer either the blood test that detects the presence of the virus or the ultrasound that can diagnose birth defects. We in Brazil need to know their stories to repair the harm inflicted by the government’s negligence in controlling the outbreak.

      It shows poor women’s reality in Brazil that they have little opportunity to get a birth defect examination whether their fetus is infected by Zika virus or not in public health clinics. The author urges the government to provide financial support and social medical services for the poor women.

    3. The poor women who are most likely to contract Zika face tremendous barriers to getting safe abortions. They are forced to carry their pregnancies in fear.

      In this sentence, the author premises her main argument that women need to be given the power to have safe and legal abortion.

    4. In abortion, too, Brazil’s economic inequality is a factor: Wealthy women can pay to secure safe abortions; most women can’t. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Advertisement Continue reading the main story

      Although abortion is illegal in Brazil, wealthy woman can have an abortion in protected and safe conditions. It is a striking contrast from women in poverty who does not have enough money to get a secure abortion. The audience reconfirm the true picture of Brazil’s severe social inequality phenomenon.

    5. In 2010, I conducted a national survey that found that by age 40, one in five Brazilian women had had at least one abortion. The overwhelming majority of these abortions were illegal and performed in unsafe conditions.

      The author claims that Brazil prohibits abortion in law, but 25% of Brazilian women had received an abortion at least one time in illegal and dangerous conditions. Though she has some persuasive points, her delivery could have been more effective by suggesting accurate evidences. She bases her argument on a national survey, but she does not state what exact name of the survey is or how many participants were enrolled in. Her lack of evidence discredits her claim and it cannot satisfy the needs of her audience who want to an accurate information about Brazil. Therefore, the author should reinforce her rhetorical strategies by developing logos.

    6. The Zika epidemic has given Brazil a unique opportunity to look at inequality and reproductive rights, and to change how the country treats women.

      The author presents a problem that Brazil government’s action against Zika virus. She criticizes their short-range policy which urges women not to fall pregnant without providing any education or information about birth control methods.

    7. The women at greatest risk of contracting Zika live in places where the mosquito is part of their everyday lives, where mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya were already endemic. They live in substandard, crowded housing in neighborhoods where stagnant water, the breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes, is everywhere. These women can’t avoid bites: They need to be outdoors from dawn until dusk to work, shop and take care of their children. And they are the same women who have the least access to sexual and reproductive health care.

      Brazil is one of the countries which have worst gap between the rich and the poor in the world. The author claims that Zika virus is a key indicator about social inequality of Brazil. Young, poor, black and brown women who live close to slum area are exposed to great danger of Zika. Also, they have fewer opportunities to access to sexual and reproductive health care. It is heart-breaking to me that the women who live in underprivileged backgrounds are also troubled with the epidemic. Brazil government should prepare measures not only focus on focuses on Zika, but also resolve social inequality in a long-term policy.

    8. My friends who are planning to have children soon are worried about Zika. But they don’t need to be too concerned. In our well-to-do neighborhood in Brasília, the capital, there has not been a single case of a baby with the birth defects associated with the Zika epidemic. As far as I know, not one woman here has even been infected by the virus.

      It is a very interesting fact that the affluent area in Brazil is perfectly safe from Zika virus, but the author does not give any evidence about it. It lacks of audience appeals and she should reinforce her rhetorical strategies by developing logos. She just relies on her ethos at this point. Although the topic is Zika virus and Brazilian women’s right to choose, she has the Brazil Olympics 2016 in mind and indirectly promotes that Brasilia which is the capital of Brazil is not dangerous at all.

    9. I am a Brazilian woman.

      What authority the author speaks is her ethos. She can observe current Zika virus problem in the immediate vicinity, Brazil. So, she looks deeper into the problem with a different perspective than other authors. The audience may think her article is more credible than others because of her nationality, Brazilian.