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Representing Gendered Structural Violence in the Asylum Process: The Refugee Tales
No full textThis chapter addresses David Herd and Anna Pincus’s Refugee Tales project to explore how co-produced narratives can communicate public awareness and understanding of women survivors’ complex experiences of forms of gendered structural violence within the asylum system, particularly relating to indefinite detention. Through close readings of the tales, the chapter attends to how the Refugee Tales function to visibilise gendered harms in the asylum process and, crucially, reveal the complex nature of harms that can only be understood through stories of lived experience. The tales’ literary forms house the speakers’ experiences, which often involve trauma, without an imposition of linearity. The chapter documents how the narratives expose the relation between the demand for credibility and linearity in the asylum processes and the violence of retraumatisation. Experience-based storytelling in the Refugee Tales offers crucial forms of knowledge and aesthetic resistance that can expose and counter the forms of gendered structural violence imposed by asylum processes and indefinite detention. The chapter contends that the knowledge that arises from the safe, protected environment of the project, in which women are able to speak out, has the capacity to resist and critique the asylum processes that inflict harm upon the women within those systems
Red flags! Parents’ Perspectives on data led policy and practice in family intervention
No full textFamily services in the UK are becoming increasingly reliant on technologies which merge and analyse personal data trails to inform policy and practice. Complex AI enabled tools are now regularly used to monitor and profile households, allocate resources, risk assess and target family interventions. This paper explores the impact of this technological transformation on parents by centring their views and experiences. Drawing on a mixed methods study we demonstrate how digital infrastructures arere-ordering family--state boundaries, bypassing the knowledge and consent of those impacted. The punitive, inflexible and in some cases deeply harmful consequences of data led practice for children and families are highlighted. We show how such negative encounters are cultivating mistrust and leading parents to actively avoid services seen as likely to link and profile personal data
Cyclability in London: Associations between the quality of the local cycling environment, cycling participation, and perceptions of the cycling environment
No full textIncreasingly, researchers are exploring how multiple factors affect the quality of the cycling environment (here “cyclability”), relating this to perceptions of cycling, to route choices, and/or to cycling levels. This recognises the impact the many built environmental characteristics have on experiences and levels of cycling, beyond the presence of infrastructure such as cycle tracks. For instance, the accessibility of local services is likely to be important for utility cycling, which involves specific destinations, while the ability to cycle through greenspace may be important both for utility and for more leisure-focused cycling.
In this paper, we conduct a multi-factor analysis of cyclability across Greater London, a megacity of 9 million people. Our cyclability measure is calculated at small-area level using ten-minute travel-time polygons. It combines the local prevalence of cycling infrastructure, green pathways, neighbourhood roads, cycling facilities and service accessibility. After calculating cyclability across Greater London, we use survey data from several thousand Outer London residents to examine associations between the cyclability of respondents' residential locations, their self-reported cycling participation and views on the local cycling environment. This allows us to explore the extent to which our measure of cyclability, and its components, predict both cycling participation and subjective assessments of cyclability.
The pan-London analysis shows substantial differences across the city related both to individual components and the resultant score, illustrating spatial disparities in the quality of the cycling environment. The survey analysis finds that living within higher scoring isochrones is associated with a higher likelihood of participation in cycling and more positive views of the local cycling environment, with past-week cycling predicted better than past-year cycling. However, predictors of cycling perceptions differ from predictors of participation. Policy-makers can use such methods to explore and address inequalities in cycling provision, which in London are substantial and correlated with perceptions and with participation
The Reasonable Person in French and English Law: Insights on Contractual Interpretation from a Tale of Faux Amis
No full textThe French legislator asserts that the reasonable person, now enshrined as an objective standard of interpretation in Article 1188 of the Code civil following the 2016 reform, has been present in the code since 1804. Yet a historical overview reveals that the reasonable person in French law is not a homogenous character – there are at least three distinct conceptions of reasonableness which paved their way to French law in different periods and with different purposes. As the reasonable person in Article 1188 is a brand-new character on the French legal stage, French judges have little guidance on how to apply this legal standard. Meanwhile, it may be tempting to think that lessons can be learned from English law where the reasonable person plays a central role. However, an inquiry into the development of the reasonable person in English law illustrates why the reasonable person à l’anglaise is a faux ami of the French reasonable person. This historical and comparative study has both pragmatic and broader conceptual implications. On the one hand, it informs the application of Article 1188. On the other hand, it shows why the introduction of the reasonable person in Article 1188 evidences the empowerment of the French judge by the legislator. The flexibility and versatility of the reasonable person device, which can be better appreciated via a comparison with English law, unties the hands of the French judiciary and provides them with an important tool to enforce the values of French law as they see them evolve
UCL East Engagement Trellis Skills Exchange
No full textKnowledge exchange event exploring creative approaches to collaboration and community engagement with members of the Trellis network. The event featured a variety of drop-in activities designed to showcase and generate discussion around techniques and approaches to community engagement and multidisciplinary collaborations. I contributed a session on my creative method using porcelain to co-create pinchpots as a conversation starter and facilitator
Marginalisation revisited: bottom-up perspectives on co-creating socially just walking tours
No full textThe past 15 years have seen a rise in initiatives set up to enablemarginalised groups to create walking tours of their own commu-nities, thus also creating alternative destination experiences. Thisresearch investigates the level of control marginalised communitieshave on the content and narratives of walking tours they deliver,the extent to which tour guides include or exclude aspects of theirmarginalisation, and how these factors affect their agency andself-empowerment. The qualitative analysis draws on semi-structuredinterviews with senior leadership and tour guides from 11 tourorganisations who engage marginalised people in walking tours.The analysis reveals that by amplifying peoples’ voices and givingthem a platform, tour guiding increases the guides’ sense ofagency and belonging, can transform public opinion and increasethe visibility of marginalised individuals – particularly when guidesare able to shape the narrative and content of the tours.Consequently, tours delivered and designed by marginalised indi-viduals contribute to making urban destinations more sociallyinclusive, thus forming an essential part of the justice tourism andsustainability agenda
Cardiovascular measures from abdominal MRI provide insights into abdominal vessel genetic architecture
No full textBackground
Cardiovascular disease remains a major source of morbidity and mortality, and population imaging studies have yielded insights into disease etiology and risk.
Methods
In this study, we segment the heart, aorta, and vena cava from abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans using deep learning. We generate six image-derived phenotypes (IDP): heart volume, four aortic and one vena cava cross-sectional areas (CSA), from 44,541 UK Biobank participants, and explore their associations with disease outcomes, as well as genetic and environmental factors.
Results
Here we show concordance between our IDPs and related IDPs from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, the current gold standard, and replicate previous findings related to sex differences and age-related changes in heart and vessel dimensions. We identify a significant association between infrarenal descending aorta CSA and incident abdominal aortic aneurysm, and between heart volume and several cardiovascular disorders. In a genome-wide association study, we identify 72 associations at 59 loci (15 novel). We derive a polygenic risk score for each trait and demonstrated an association with thoracic aneurysm diagnosis, pointing to a potential screening opportunity. We demonstrate substantial genetic correlation with cardiovascular traits including aneurysms, varicose veins, dysrhythmia, and cardiac failure. Finally, heritability enrichment analysis implicates vascular tissue in the heritability of these traits.
Conclusions
This study illustrates the value of non-specific abdominal MRI for exploring cardiovascular disease risk in cohort studies, and identifies novel genetic associations with vascular dimensions
Population structure, antimicrobial resistance, and virulence factors of diabetic foot-associated E. coli
No full textDiabetic foot infections (DFI) are a major complication of diabetes, often leading to lower limb amputations. Escherichia coli is a predominant Gram-negative pathogen in DFI, yet its genomic and pathogenic features remain poorly characterised. Here, we present a whole genome sequence-based analysis of diabetic foot-associated E. coli (DFEC) isolates from diverse geographical locations. Phylogenetic reconstruction revealed substantial diversity, with strains spanning seven phylogroups and 28 sequence types. Capsule biosynthesis loci linked to invasive infections, such as K1, K2ab, and K5, were also detected. The DFEC pangenome comprised 18,263 gene clusters, indicating high genomic plasticity. The plasmid repertoire was also varied
and contributed to the genomic diversity of the strains. Approximately 78% of isolates were multidrug-resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR), with resistance to last-resort antibiotics such as colistin and carbapenems also observed. High frequencies of virulence factors involved in host cell adherence, iron metabolism, serum survival, as well as toxins and type 3 secretion system (T3SS) genes were also detected. In contrast, metabolic modelling showed
conserved biochemical profiles. Clustering based on accessory metabolic functions did not mirror phylogeny, suggesting metabolic convergence among distinct lineages. Collectively, these findings reveal that DFEC are versatile pathogens with a repertoire of antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants. These traits make them functionally distinct from commensal E. coli strains and highlight the potential of DFEC to cause severe and invasive infections
Characterization of extracellular vesicles from primary skin epithelial cells and cell lines from Atlantic salmon
No full textExtracellular vesicle (EV) research in fish, particularly in aquaculture-relevant species, is gaining momentum, with interest in biomarker development, while the availability of in vitro tools to study EV-mediated cellular communication in fish is limited, particularly with respect to primary cell lines. As salmon represents one of the most valuable fish species in global aquaculture, identifying robust biomarkers for fish health monitoring is a high priority. This study introduces a novel in vitro model for EV research in salmon, utilising primary and immune relevant cell lines to closely mimic in vivo conditions. EVs were profiled from primary scale derived keratocyte cells (SKC), in addition to EVs from previously established salmon cell lines (ASK and SSP-9 from salmon head kidney). EV size profiles were identified overall in the 50–450 nm range, with some differences between the cell lines. EV protein cargoes were analyzed by LC-MS/MS alongside associated pathway enrichment, providing insights for roles of EVs in cell-type-specific communication, including immune responses. Notably, the SKC-derived EVs revealed proteins and pathways associated with wound healing, keratinization, and immune defense, highlighting their potential as therapeutic targets. Additionally, shared pathways identified in EVs from all cell lines, included the non-canonical NF-κB pathway and ubiquitination, offering new perspectives into EV-mediated signaling in fish. Our in-vitro model system may provide a translational platform to develop EVs as robust biomarkers of fish health, with potential applications in aquaculture