8383 research outputs found
Sort by
Ultrasound-guided day-case wide-bore percutaneous mucin aspiration in advanced pseudomyxoma peritonei
No full textThis article is not available on ChesterRepTo evaluate percutaneous ultrasound-guided day-case mucin aspiration in advanced pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) using a wide-bore drain with regards to its safety and efficacy. All patients who underwent percutaneous mucin aspiration for PMP between 2019-2021 at a single national peritoneal tumour service were included in this study. Under local anaesthesia, a suction-enabled 28-32 F catheter was used for drainage following wire-guided track dilatation. The volume drained and difference in abdominal girth pre- and post-procedure were measured. Patients graded difficulty in breathing and abdominal discomfort pre- and post-procedure. Histology reports were reviewed. Sixteen patients received 56 percutaneous mucin aspirations between 2019-2021. The aetiology was a low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN) in 50% of patients. The mean amount of mucin drained was 7,320 ± 3,000ml (range 300-13,500 ml). The mean reduction in abdominal girth post-procedure was 12.2 ± 5 cm (range 0-27 cm). Only grade 1 complications were observed. Percutaneous ultrasound-guided day-case aspiration of mucin for advanced and recurrent PMP using a wide-bore drain is a safe and effective procedure. It may be used in the palliative setting or as a bridge to surgery in the very symptomatic patient or if there is a reversible contraindication to surgery. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
DNS tunnelling, exfiltration and detection over cloud environments
Get PDFThe domain name system (DNS) protocol is fundamental to the operation of the internet, however, in recent years various methodologies have been developed that enable DNS attacks on organisations. In the last few years, the increased use of cloud services by organisations has created further security challenges as cyber criminals use numerous methodologies to exploit cloud services, configurations and the DNS protocol. In this paper, two different DNS tunnelling methods, Iodine and DNScat, have been conducted in the cloud environment (Google and AWS) and positive results of exfiltration have been achieved under different firewall configurations. Detection of malicious use of DNS protocol can be a challenge for organisations with limited cybersecurity support and expertise. In this study, various DNS tunnelling detection techniques were utilised in a cloud environment to create an effective monitoring system with a reliable detection rate, low implementation cost, and ease of use for organisations with limited detection capabilities. The Elastic stack (an open-source framework) was used to configure a DNS monitoring system and to analyse the collected DNS logs. Furthermore, payload and traffic analysis techniques were implemented to identify different tunnelling methods. This cloud-based monitoring system offers various detection techniques that can be used for monitoring DNS activities of any network especially accessible to small organisations. Moreover, the Elastic stack is open-source and it has no limitation with regards to the data that can be uploaded daily
Where are all the veterans? A mixed methods assessment of a systematic strategy to increase veteran registration in UK primary healthcare practices
Get PDFTo identify effective initiatives to increase veteran registration in UK primary healthcare (PHC) practices. A structured and systematic strategy was designed to improve the number of military veterans correctly coded within PHC. A mixed methods approach was adopted to evaluate the impact. PHC staff provided anonymised patient medical record data that used Read and Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms codes to identify the number of veterans within each PHC practice. This included baseline data, then scheduled further information after two phases of internal advertisement and two phases of external advertisement of different initiatives intended to raise veteran registration. Qualitative data was acquired through post-project interviews with PHC staff to ascertain the effectiveness, benefits, problems and means for improvement. A modified Grounded theory was used for the 12 staff interviews. Twelve PHC practices in Cheshire, England, participated in this research study with a combined total of 138 098 patients. Data was collected between 01 September 2020 until 28 February 2021. Overall, veteran registration increased by 218.1% (N=1311). Estimated coverage of veterans increased from a coverage of 9.3% to a coverage of 29.5%. There was an increased population coverage ranging from 5.0% to 54.1%. The staff interviews revealed improved staff commitment and their taking ownership of the responsibility to improve veteran registration. The primary challenge was the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the significantly reduced footfall and the communication opportunities and interface with patients. Managing an advertising campaign and improving veteran registration during a pandemic caused huge problems, but it also presented opportunities. Enabling a significant increase in PHC registration during the harshest and most testing conditions indicates that the accomplished achievements have substantial merit for wider adoption and impact. [Abstract copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.]Forces in Mind Trust; FundRef: https://doi.org/10.13039/100012345; Grant(s): FiMT 19/0122U
Towards automated testing and feedback of Object-Oriented programming tasks in Java
No full textThis study describes the design of, and initial results from using, our Java Object-Oriented Feedback Tool (JOOFT). JOOFT is a Java library designed to facilitate the automation of feedback relating to aspects of class design in Java. It permits the tutor to write code, such as unit tests, before the corresponding code is written by students, and support the provision of automated feedback to the students as they create code. Provided that the students’ code compiles, the tool can provide both generic and customized feedback on aspects such as constructor implementation, correct use of encapsulation, naming conventions, etc
New records of benthic foraminifera in the surface sediments of the Dulas Bay saltmarsh in North Wales, UK
No full textThis dataset is not available on ChesterRepWe investigated the community composition of benthic foraminifera in surface sediments taken from 14 sample sites in the saltmarshes of the Dulas Bay Estuary in North Wales (UK). Constrained cluster analyses determined that the composition and richness of benthic foraminiferal species in our study area were dominated by calcareous species in mud and sandy sediments and that their vertical distribution was constrained by elevation, which is consistent with reports from other latitudinally similar saltmarsh habitats. The exceptionally low proportion of morphological abnormalities in the foraminiferal tests that we sampled suggests that the Dulas Bay Estuary is a pristine unpolluted environment. New micropaleontological occurrence records for the Dulas Bay Estuary are presented, which will be useful for reconstructing Holocene relative sea-level changes and contribute to global databases: PANGAEA® Data Publisher
Rural space and the local food landscape: Consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging
Get PDF© [2023, Emerald Publishing Limited]. This AAM is provided for your own personal use only. It may not be used for resale, reprinting, systematic distribution, emailing, or for any other commercial purpose without the permission of the publisher.Purpose – This research aims to investigate consumers’ construction of food localness through the politics of belonging in a regional context.
Design/methodology/approach – Following a socio-spatial lens and considering the ‘realm of meaning’ of place, this research focuses on local consumers’ lived meanings of ‘local’ food choice, and hence adopts a phenomenological approach to the data collection and analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with residents of the Italian region of Marche.
Findings – Drawing on Trudeau’s (2006) politics of belonging, we reveal three interconnected themes which show how local consumers articulate a local food ‘orthodoxy’ and how their discourses and practices draw and maintain a boundary between local and non-local food, whereby local food is considered ‘autochthonous’ of rural space. Thus, our participants construct a local food landscape, conveying rural (vs. urban) meanings through which food acquires ‘localness’ (vs. non-‘localness’) status.
Practical implications – Our findings provide considerable scope for food producers, manufacturers and/or marketers to differentiate local food products by enhancing consumers’ direct experience of it in relation to rural space. Thus, enabling local food producers to convey rural (vs. urban) meanings to consumers, who would develop an orthodoxy guiding future choice.
Social implications – Our findings enable regional promoters and food policymakers to leverage the symbolic distinctiveness of food autochthony to promote place and encourage consumers to participate in their local food system.
Originality/value – By utilising the politics of belonging as an analytical framework, we show that the urban-rural dichotomy – rather than being an obsolete epistemological category – fuels politics of belonging dynamics and that local food consumers socially construct food localness not merely as a romanticisation of rurality, but as a territorial expression of the contemporary local/non-local cultural conflict implied in the politics of belonging. Thus, we advance our theoretical understanding by demonstrating that food ‘becomes’ local and therefore, builds on extant food localness conceptualisations
Lysophosphatidic Acid Signalling in Diabetes Mellitus
Get PDFDriven by obesity, the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has escalated, reaching unprecedented levels worldwide. This has led to a change in approach from treatment to prevention or delaying the onset of the disease. While current treatment
of the disease has been successful in increasing patients’ quality of life, it has substantially increased the financial burden on healthcare systems worldwide. In view of this, the NHS, in partnership with Diabetes UK and Public Health England, has
launched a diabetes prevention programme to target people at risk of the disease and provide targeted support to prevent its development. A prelude to this strategy is to identify robust risk factors that will enable the capture of people at increased risk of developing the disease. The phospholipid lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), upregulated during obesity, has been shown to be a potent regulator of glucose homeostasis and insulin secretion in animal models. This thesis is the first to assess circulating levels of LPA in human T2DM patients versus non-DM control. The thesis aims to assess the usefulness of LPA as a biomarker for T2DM screening and has three major objectives: (1) to determine plasma LPA concentration in T2DM patients compared
with non-diabetic controls and assess LPA correlation with current diagnostic markers for T2DM. (2) to determine LPA correlation with pathological markers known to lead to DM complications; (3) to develop an immunofluorescence assay to assess LPA
signalling of glucose homoeostasis using a mammalian cell line. (4) to assess LPA regulations of GLUT4, PKC and α2a adrenergic receptor (α2aAR) using the developed assay
Lower pollen nutritional quality delays nest building and egg laying in Bombus terrestris audax micro-colonies leading to reduced biomass gain
Get PDFThis version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13592-021-00885-3The performance of Bombus terrestris micro-colonies fed five diets differing in pollen species composition and level of nine essential amino acids (EAA; leucine, lysine, valine, arginine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, threonine, histidine, methionine) was assessed for 37 days by recording total biomass gain, nest building initiation, brood production (eggs, small and large larvae, pupae, drones), nectar, and pollen collection. Stronger colony performance was linked to higher amino acid levels but no consistent differences in biomass gain were recorded between mono- and poly-species diets. Poorest performance occurred in micro-colonies offered pure oilseed rape (OSR) pollen which contained the lowest EAA levels. Reduced micro-colony development (delayed nest initiation and lower brood production) was related to OSR proportion in the diet and lower EAA levels. Results are discussed in relation to selection of plant species in the design of habitats to promote bee populations
The dissolution of St. Paul’s charnel: remembering and forgetting the collective dead in late medieval and early modern England
Get PDFHD record with no manuscript - published Gold OA via TA funding - VoR not uploaded to metadata record until 21/01/202
The Sensuous Pastoral: Vision and Text in Pre-Raphaelite Art
Get PDFMuch of the recent scholarly criticism of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood has focused on the relationship between Artist and Muse. Dinah Roe, in her introduction to her edited collection of Pre-Raphaelite Poetry, states that ‘Pre-Raphaelitism maintained strict demarcations between women’s roles (as muses) and men’s (as creators).’ This paper, however, will suggest that through the use of shared pastoral metaphors and imagery, female Pre-Raphaelite poets gained a sense of agency through appropriating techniques used by male poets. This was also further encouraged by Pre-Raphaelite muses’ writing of poetry, and the highly visual intertextuality between portraiture and the written word.
The minutiae of detail employed in descriptions of pastoral scenes in such poems as Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘The Blessed Damozel’, ‘Genius in Beauty’ and ‘Silent Noon’ (amongst others) are explored to a depth that exposes the Pre-Raphaelites’ use of the natural to explore sensuality: ‘Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, - the finger-points look through like rosy blooms’ writes Dante Gabriel Rossetti in ‘Silent Noon’. This marriage of body and nature, with an intense attention to sensual visuality, is highly characteristic of the Pre-Raphaelites almost erotic evolution of Romantic literary sensibilities.
Similar imagery is employed in the works of female Pre-Raphaelite writers. Elizabeth Siddal, most well-known for being Dante’s muse for a number of his artworks, as well as his sister, Christina Rossetti employ a similar sensuous focus on natural detail to exemplify their position as objects of desire. Rossetti’s use of the Petrarchan Sonnet form, most commonly used as a medieval expression of courtly love, also contributes to this idea. This paper will explore how the patterns of such imagery react to the pastoral eroticism of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and how this appropriation may be seen to reclaim feminine sexuality and desire. At the core of the argument will be the intensely visual relationship between muse and artist, and the Pre-Raphaelites’ interest in conversions of image to text, and text to image
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage ChesterRep? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!