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Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Nepali People in the UK: A Qualitative Study.
Vaccination saves lives and can be an effective strategy for preventing the spread of the COVID-19, but negative attitudes towards vaccines lead to vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Nepali community in the United Kingdom (UK). This qualitative study included in-depth interviews with 20 people from Nepal living in the UK. Interviews were conducted by a native-Nepali speaker and all interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English before being analysed thematically. Our study found that attitudes towards COVID-19 are generally positive. Nine overlapping themes around barriers to COVID-19 vaccination were identified: (a) rumours and mis/disinformation; (b) prefer home remedies and yoga; (c) religion restriction; (d) concern towards vaccine eligibility; (e) difficulty with online vaccine booking system; (f) doubts of vaccine effectiveness after changing the second dose timeline; (g) lack of confidence in the vaccine; (h) past bad experience with the influenza vaccine; and (i) worried about side-effects. Understanding barriers to the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine can help in the design of better targeted interventions. Public health messages including favourable policy should be tailored to address those barriers and make this vaccination programme more viable and acceptable to the ethnic minority communities in the UK
Why do some things become more mobile 1000-1700?
This chapter reflects on why there was an increase in the range and volume of things in circulation from 1000-1700, the models that historians have developed to explain this, and the value of a thing-centred approach, thereby drawing together the insights from earlier papers in this edited collection
Examining patient and professional perspectives in the UK for gene therapy in haemophilia
From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-07-14, rev-recd 2022-04-01, accepted 2022-04-08, pub-electronic 2022-04-19, pub-print 2022-07Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedFunder: Pfizer; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100004319Abstract: Introduction: With the development of gene therapy for people with haemophilia (PWH), it is important to understand how people impacted by haemophilia (PIH) and clinicians prioritise haemophilia treatment attributes to support informed treatment decisions. Objective: To examine the treatment attribute preferences of PIH and clinical experts in the United Kingdom (UK) and to develop a profile of gene therapy characteristics fit for use in future discrete choice experiments (DCEs). Methods: Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with PIH (n = 14) and clinical experts (n = 6) who ranked pre‐defined treatment attributes by importance. Framework analysis was conducted to identify key themes and treatment attributes; points were allocated based on the rankings. Synthesis of results by a multidisciplinary group informed development of a profile of gene therapy characteristics for use in future research. Results: Key themes identified by PIH and clinical experts included patient relevant features and the importance of ‘informed decision making'. The six top‐ranked treatment attributes were ‘effect on factor level’ (79 points), ‘uncertainty regarding long‐term risks’ (57 points), ‘impact on daily life’ (41 points), ‘frequency of monitoring’ (33 points), ‘impact on ability to participate in physical activity’ (29 points), and ‘uncertainty regarding long‐term benefits’ (28 points). The final treatment characteristics were categorised as therapeutic option, treatment effectiveness, safety concerns, impact on self‐management and quality of life (role limitations). Conclusion: We identified several gene therapy characteristics important to PIH and clinicians in the UK. These characteristics will be used in a future DCE to further investigate patient preferences for gene therapy
Identification of an Altered Matrix Signature in Kidney Aging and Disease
Accumulation of extracellular matrix in organs and tissues is a feature of both aging and disease. In the kidney, glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis accompany the decline in function, which current therapies cannot address, leading to organ failure. Although histologic and ultrastructural patterns of excess matrix form the basis of human disease classifications, a comprehensive molecular resolution of abnormal matrix is lacking.
Methods: Using mass spectrometry–based proteomics, we resolved matrix composition over age in mouse
models of kidney disease. We compared the changes in mice with a global characterization of human kidney matrix during aging and to existing kidney disease datasets to identify common molecular features.
Results: Ultrastructural changes in basement membranes are associated with altered cell adhesion and metabolic processes and with distinct matrix proteomes during aging and kidney disease progression in mice. Within the altered matrix, basement membrane components (laminins, type IV collagen, type XVIII collagen) were reduced and interstitial matrix proteins (collagens I, III, VI, and XV; fibrinogens; and nephronectin) were increased, a pattern also seen in human kidney aging. Indeed, this signature of matrix proteins was consistently modulated across all age and disease comparisons, and the increase in interstitial matrix
was also observed in human kidney disease datasets.
Conclusions: This study provides deep molecular resolution of matrix accumulation in kidney aging and disease, and identifies a common signature of proteins that provides insight into mechanisms of response to kidney injury and repair
The practical application on middle leaders of performing coaching interventions on others
Lambert, Steve, The practical application on middle leaders of performing coaching interventions on others, Management in Education (Journal Volume Number 39 and Issue Number 1) pp. 19-24. Copyright © 2022 British Educational Leadership, Management & Administration Society (BELMAS). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.The role of middle leaders in bringing about improvement in schools is well documented in the UK and abroad, with the ever-present demand for raising standards and achievement. At the same time, the benefits to individuals from receiving coaching or mentoring is also well documented. However, little is known about the benefit to those providing coaching. This article outlines some initial findings emerging from the first stage of a study exploring the benefits to middle leaders in secondary schools in England in their ability to recognise emotions having provided some coaching interventions to others. All participants were asked to complete an online emotional recognition test. After which a subset of the participants provided coaching to a member of staff from within the school for one academic term. After which participants resat the emotional recognition test. Most participants saw their ability to recognise emotions improve as a result of providing the coaching interventions. This is particularly important given existing literature that suggests due to the demands of the role, middle leaders have a deficit in their ability to recognise emotions, leading to a negative impact on those with whom they work
Thresholds and Boundaries: Introduction
During the period 1000-1700 major transformations took place in material culture. Quite simply, more objects were manufactured and used than ever before and many objects travelled across geographic, political, religious, linguistic, class and cultural boundaries. By starting with a focus on past objects, this volume brings together essays from art historians, historians, archaeologists, literary scholars and museum curators to reveal the different disciplinary approaches and methods taken to the study of objects and what this can reveal about transformations in material culture 1000-1700. Contributors: Katherine A. Wilson, Leah R. Clark, Alison M. Leonard, Steven P. Ashby, Michael Lewis, Robert Maniura, Sarah Hinds, Christina Antenhofer, Alexandra van Dongen, Bettina Bildhauer, Julie De Groot, Jennifer Hillman, Ruth Whelan, Christopher Donaldson, Thomas Pickles
Wasserstein GAN based Chest X-Ray Dataset Augmentation for Deep Learning Models: COVID-19 Detection Use-Case
“© 2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”The novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is still continuing to be a concern for the entire globe. Since early detection of COVID-19 is of particular importance, there have been multiple research efforts to supplement the current standard RT-PCR tests. Several deep learning models, with varying effectiveness, using Chest X-Ray images for such diagnosis have also been proposed. While some of the models are quite promising, there still remains a dearth of training data for such deep learning models. The present paper attempts to provide a viable solution to the problem of data deficiency in COVID-19 CXR images. We show that the use of a Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network (WGAN) could lead to an effective and lightweight solution. It is demonstrated that the WGAN generated images are at par with the original images using inference tests on an already proposed COVID-19 detection model
Gallows and Golgotha: Morbid conventions in the inherited place-names of seventeenth-century Quaker burial grounds
In the mid to late seventeenth century Quaker burial grounds were established throughout Britain on land donated by Friends or purchased specifically for the purpose. Among purchased sites, a small but consistent minority bear nominal association with gallows and gibbets through place-names inherited from prior land use. This suggests that a pattern of land acquisition relating to prior morbid use may be drawn. In the present work it is proposed that such undesirable land would not only have been cheap and convenient to acquire but that its connotation of liminality held further symbolic significance and purpose within early Quaker establishments. Two key case studies are provided and their conceptual significance investigated. Frameworks of enquiry are then theorised, culminating in suggestions for further research
Reaching Survivors Project - Final Report 2021
An evaluation report on the 'Reaching Survivors project' run by CSAS
Chapter 5: Applying Proteomics to Investigate Extracellular Matrix in Health and Disease
The molecular composition of basement membranes (BMs) has traditionally been investigated by candidate-based approaches leading to the identification of key structural components as described in previous chapters. Laminins, collagen IV, nidogens, perlecan, and type XV/XVIII collagen are integral to BMs with isoforms showing tissue specificity. More recently the application of mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics has led to the discovery of many more structural and regulatory components of BMs and more broadly, extracellular matrix (ECM). These investigations have revealed tissue-specific signatures of between 100 and 150 ECM components, demonstrating the complexity of the extracellular niche. In addition to providing a structural scaffold for cells, ECM is a dynamic extracellular environment capable of regulating the physical properties of tissues. Global investigations of ECM with proteomics in turn enable systems level analyses and when applied to health and disease states these investigations provide insights into pathways regulating matrix dysregulation. This chapter focuses on the methods used to extract ECM and on the analysis of its composition using MS-based proteomics, and it provides examples of how these approaches have been used to investigate health and disease states