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Evaluation Plan - Uni&You Young People with Experience of Care Intervention
No full textNo description supplied</p
Lived experiences of menstruation among transgender and gender diverse people: intersectional stigma and calls for resistance
No full textAs menstruation is often framed as a feminine experience and transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people transgress cishegemony, TGD people navigate the complex intersection of two stigmas: menstrual stigma and transphobia. In this qualitative interview study with reflexive thematic analysis, we explored TGD people’s lived experiences of menstruating in a gender diverse body, paying particular attention to how TGD experience menstruation and navigate (intersectional) stigma. Findings revealed varied levels of internalized stigma, with some participants feeling ashamed or uncomfortable, and others perceiving menstruation neutrally. Anticipated stigma, stemming from societal views linking menstruation to femininity, led to fears of misgendering and medical discrimination. Enacted stigma included negative reactions and limited access to menstrual products and suitable restroom infrastructure. Participants resisted intersectional stigma by reframing menstruation positively or neutrally and urged for the promotion of inclusivity. Participants further recommended gender-neutral language, menstrual products and disposal bins in all restrooms, and increased representation in period advertising. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)</p
Combination of dopamine and tyrosinase as a green corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel
No full textThis study investigates the combination of dopamine (DA) and tyrosinase (TYR) for corrosion protection of carbon steel in acidic conditions, focusing on corrosion protection behavior and film formation mechanisms. Confocal Raman microscopy analysis demonstrated that DA forms a thin protective film on carbon steel through complexation with Fe ions, preferably at defect sites, thereby transforming mixed Fe oxides to Fe(catechol)3, while TYR promotes DA oxidation and enhances the complexation. Surface coverage of Fe(catechol)3 increases from 37 % at 10 min to 89 % at 60 min of exposure in the DA/TYR solution. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) measurements showed a 25 % reduction in Fe release after 48 h in the DA/TYR solution. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed that TYR promotes oxidation from Fe2+ to Fe3+ at the surface, resulting in a thinner yet more protective DA-Fe complexation film. The DA/TYR system increased corrosion resistance by 47 % after 24 h, primarily attributed to the rapid and extensive formation of Fe(catechol)3 complexes between DA and Fe ions released from the substrate, further strengthened by TYR. This bio-inspired and green corrosion inhibitor strategy, combining DA’s metal-binding affinity with TYR’s enzymatic oxidation capability, provides a scalable and non-toxic strategy for effective corrosion protection.</p
Embodied sensing and stimuli-responsive behaviour for electroactive soft robots
No full textEMBARGOED – expected end date 21.01.2028</p
Longitudinal associations between sexual regulatory focus and sexual health and wellbeing
No full textSexual health and wellbeing (SHWB) encompasses physical and emotional aspects beyond disease absence. Research has shown that sexual decisions and behaviors are informed by predominant motives for pleasure or safety, with some individuals prioritizing health protection and risk avoidance (i.e., predominant focus on prevention) and others sexual pleasure and rewards (i.e., predominant focus on promotion) with casual partners. This longitudinal study with individuals in Spain and Portugal explored how sexual regulatory focus was related to sexual responses, behaviors, and experiences with casual partners at baseline (T1, N = 811) and three months later (T2, N = 527). Results of a latent profile analysis revealed three distinct profiles. Participants predominantly focused on prevention
reported higher sexual health outcomes at baseline (e.g., more sexual inhibition due to risk awareness; more condom use in different sexual activities) and three months later (e.g., enacted safer sexual activities) to the detriment of their sexual wellbeing (e.g., less sexual satisfaction). In contrast, participants predominantly focused on promotion reported higher sexual wellbeing outcomes at baseline (e.g., more sexual excitation; more sexual communal strength) and three months later (e.g., more sexual satisfaction; more autonomous reasons for having sex) potentially to the detriment of their sexual health (e.g., enacted riskier sexual activities; but were also more likely to have been tested for sexually transmitted infections). A third group of participants with a dual focus managed to protect their sexual health (e.g., enacted safer sexual activities later on) without compromising their sexual wellbeing (e.g., more sexual excitation; more sexual satisfaction later on). These findings show that sexual regulatory focus is a crucial aspect to consider in efforts aimed at fostering SHWB.</p
Medial prefrontal cortical neurotransmitters reactive to relapse-promoting and relapse-suppressing cues in male rats trained to self-administer cocaine or alcohol
No full textEnvironmental cues signaling drug availability ( S +) vs. omission (S-) each recruit specific prefrontal cortical neurons to promote vs. suppress drug seeking in rats, suggesting similarly cue-specific neurotransmission regulates such behavior. We here determined extracellular neurotransmitter fluctuations in the infralimbic (IL) and prelimbic (PL) cortices of rats reactive to S + vs. S-. For this, male rats were trained to recognize both S + and S- within the context of either cocaine or alcohol self-administration and then subjected to S + vs. S- cue-tests during which animals engaged in active drug seeking vs. suppression of this behavior. In cocaine-trained rats, serotonin, taurine and adenosine in PL were preferentially modulated during the S + (vs. S-) cue-test, while glutamate in PL was preferentially modulated during the S- (vs. S +) cue-test. In alcohol-trained rats, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in IL was preferentially modulated during the S + cue-test, while histamine in PL as well as glutamate and dopamine in IL were preferentially modulated during the S- cue-test. In summary, prefrontal neurotransmissions reactive to drug discriminative cues are dependent on cue types ( S + vs. S-), brain regions (IL vs. PL) and drugs used for cue-conditioning (cocaine vs. alcohol), thereby suggesting cocaine- and alcohol-seeking are each regulated by distinct neurochemical processes.</p
Are refugee workers ‘peers’, ‘competitors’, or both? Socioeconomic justifications of boundary work through the lens of native employees
No full textThis article addresses under-explored aspects of boundary-drawing, focusing on how dominant groups draw and reproduce boundaries in informal workplace settings. Based a on micro-level study in Adana, Turkey, a secure economic hub in the proximity of the conflict region, it investigates how native Turkish employees interact with Syrian peers in labour-intensive sectors. Specifically, it explores what defines Syrian workers as ‘peers’ and how Turkish employees position themselves differently in everyday work life in relation to power dynamics. Drawing on ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews, the study reveals that socioeconomic boundaries are prominent among Turkish employees but manifest in varied ways. Importantly, these boundaries are not solely driven by economic concerns; they also reflect how dominant group members legitimise their standing within a work environment compared to Syrian coworkers. This research contributes to understanding the nuanced processes through which workplace hierarchies and social divisions are maintained in informal economies.</p
Religious engagement in contemporary British foreign policy: the birth of a postsecular paradigm?
No full textEMBARGOED – expected end date 14.01.2028</p
Valuing the wider benefits of net zero: conceptual foundations of new assessment frameworks in the United Kingdom
No full textHighlighting the wider economic, social, and environmental benefits of climate change mitigation can strengthen the investment case for action, support policy coordination, and enhance political feasibility. In the United Kingdom (UK), new assessment frameworks and tools are emerging to better recognise these co-benefits in national net-zero pathways, municipal policy processes, and public procurement. Yet limited attention has been paid to how the conceptual foundations of these tools may reinforce – or challenge – market-led logics in energy policy. The values embedded within assessment frameworks shape policymaking by determining how benefits are prioritised and valued. Drawing on a review of 28 assessment frameworks and 27 expert interviews, this paper examines how co-benefit appraisal practices are shaping the governance of the UK's transition to net zero. First, we show that the dominant approach, quantitative economic valuation, tends to support and legitimise a market-based view of this transition. Second, frameworks can treat coordination primarily as a pragmatic policy problem rather than a conceptual issue relating to the need for holistic governance models which are aligned with human and planetary limits. Third, while policymakers combine assessment methods to produce evidence relevant to different audiences, this pragmatic view of political feasibility can obscure the political question of whose values and interests should influence policy design and evaluation. We argue that applying multiple methods through a well-being economic paradigm reframes co-benefit assessment as a moral and political practice which can identify socially just and ecologically responsible forms of energy system change.</p
Inhibiting disulfide bonding in truncated tau297–391 results in enhanced self-assembly of tau into seed-competent assemblies
No full textTau undergoes fibrillogenesis in a group of neurodegenerative diseases, termed tauopathies. Each tauopathy is characterized by tau fibrils with disease-specific conformations, highlighting the complexity of tau self-assembly. This has led to debate surrounding the precise mechanisms that govern the self-assembly of tau in disease, especially the involvement of disulfide bonding (DSB) between cysteine residues. In this study, we use a truncated form of tau, dGAE, capable of forming filaments identical to those in disease. We reveal the impact of DSB on dGAE assembly and propagation by resolving the global mechanisms that dominate its assembly. We found evidence of surface-mediated secondary nucleation and fragmentation being active in dGAE assembly. The inhibition of DSB during dGAE assembly leads to an enhanced aggregation rate through a reduced lag phase but with no effect on the global assembly mechanisms. We suggest this is due to the formation of a dominant, seed-competent species in the absence of DSB that facilitates elongation and secondary nucleation, resulting in enhanced assembly. In vitro seeding assays reveal the recruitment of endogenous tau in a cell model only when using dGAE species formed under conditions that inhibit DSB. Our results further support the use of the in vitro dGAE tau aggregation model for investigating the mechanism of tau assembly, show the effect of varying conditions on tau assembly, and how these conditions affect the resultant species. Further studies may utilize dGAE and its aggregates to investigate tau seeding, propagation, and to highlight or test potential targets for therapies that reduce the spread of pathological tau throughout the brain.</p