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Voltage-gated potassium channels (Kv) in GtoPdb v.2025.4
Full text linkThe 6TM family of K channels comprises the voltage-gated KV subfamilies, the EAG subfamily (which includes hERG channels), the Ca2+-activated Slo subfamily (actually with 7TM, termed BK) and the Ca2+-activated SK subfamily. These channels possess a pore-forming α subunit that comprises tetramers of identical subunits (homomeric) or of different subunits (heteromeric). Heteromeric channels can only be formed within subfamilies (e.g. Kv1.1 with Kv1.2; Kv7.2 with Kv7.3). The pharmacology largely reflects the subunit composition of the functional channel.Kv7 channelsKv7.1-Kv7.5 (KCNQ1-5) K+ channels are voltage-gated K+ channels with major roles in neurons, muscle cells and epithelia where they underlie physiologically important K+ currents, such as the neuronal M-current and the cardiac IKs. Genetic deficiencies in all five KCNQ genes result in human excitability disorders, including epilepsy, autism spectrum disorders, cardiac arrhythmias and deafness. Thanks to the recent knowledge of the structure and function of human KCNQ-encoded proteins, these channels are increasingly used as drug targets for treating diseases [333, 2, 777, 294]
Corporate Boards: Human or Bot?
Full text linkWith the dawn of artificial intelligence (AI), it is only a matter of time before it amplifies or even replaces human decision-making in corporate governance. This threatens to subvert the core concepts of a director as laid down in the Companies Act, 2013, like director duties, accountability, and the nature of corporate leadership. This article delves into the legal ramifications of integrating AI inside the corporate boardrooms, specifically from the statutory lens of Indian corporate laws. This paper focuses on Chapter XI, where it explores the applicability–or the lack thereof, of these provisions when AI systems are engaged in board decisions. The issues revolve around AI’s decision making–the legal status and the allocation of liability for harmful decisions influenced by AI systems–in light of directors’ fiduciary duties. Additionally, it examines the challenges of ensuring transparency, particularly in relation to algorithmic biases and the Black Box Phenomenon. This article concludes by proposing recommendations for a comprehensive regulatory framework governing the ethical use of AI in corporate boards, including, but not limited to–guidelines for algorithmic accountability, regular AI system audits, and enhanced disclosure requirements for companies employing AI in governance. Through this research, the author seeks to advance the emerging field of AI governance and provide insights for policymakers, corporate directors, and AI developers working at the intersection of technology and corporate law
Slavery, Commerce, and Art: Kelvingrove House and The City Industrial Museum
Full text linkIn 1901, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum opened to the public, along with two other temporary exhibition halls, as one of the main attractions at the Glasgow International Exhibition. However, the history and legacy of its predecessor, the City Industrial Museum (previously known as Kelvingrove House), is far less known and largely undocumented. This article considers the early history of Kelvingrove House, adopting an interdisciplinary approach combining archival research with the analysis of material culture, maps, and museum collections. Situated within wider heritage initiatives relating to the recovery of Glasgow’s historical links with slavery, it underlines the possible significance of Kelvingrove House to future curatorial policy and civic initiatives
More Than a Game: Seasonal Handball in Scotland
Full text linkTraditional football and handball are found in various locations across the UK. Particularly associated with the period around Shrove Tuesday and Christmas, they have their origins in centuries-old, rough-and-ready street games. The article reflects on the degree of disorder and violence which are commonly assumed to characterise the games and reflects on the prospects for their survival in an increasingly litigious society. The focus is on the handball tradition in the Scottish Borders and Orkney, with additional comparative material from two examples of English street football. These games do not take place in a designated play-space, but rather the town centre and surrounding streets, where shops are boarded up in advance, but yet are still open for business. The events are only lightly regulated, police presence is minimal and there are no barriers to protect onlookers. The game has few rules and is highly physical. It can appear to the outsider not as a form of sport, but rather as something which resembles violent disorder. Indeed, it is frequently presented in this way in the form of video packages on YouTube. But what is violence in the context of this tradition? Can a traditional form maintain its unregulated character while presenting a risk to players, onlookers and property
The Overstated Challenge: Analysing the Challenge of Southern Criminology to the Hegemony of Northern Criminology and its Implications for Criminological Theory in the 21st Century
Full text linkIn an era marked by the escalating globalisation of crime, the import of Southern criminology has progressively transitioned from a marginalised field to a central focus in research.[1] This transition presents theoretical challenges to criminology in the Northern Hemisphere.[2] This essay posits that while Southern criminology challenges Northern criminology’s hegemony, these challenges are ultimately overstated. Recognising and addressing these challenges is imperative for improving the epistemological framework and theoretical contributions of criminology, thereby equipping it to confront 21st-century criminal phenomena more effectively.
[1] Matthews, Roger. “False Starts, Wrong Turns and Dead Ends: Reflections on Recent Developments in Criminology.” Critical Criminology 25, no. 4 (2017): 577-591.
[2] Greenberg, David F. “The Weak Strength of Social Control Theory.” Crime & Delinquency 45, no. 1 (1999): 66–81
Witnessing Erasure: Diasporic Memory and the Algerian Struggle Against French National Amnesia
Full text linkThe concept of diaspora, often entangled within the nation-state\u27s rigid boundaries, presents a crucial yet often overlooked lens to denaturalise ossified narratives associated with the linear progression towards the centralised ‘neutral’ state. In crossing borders and boundaries, the Algerian diaspora in France occupies a liminal space that continuously reimagines, challenges and deterritorialises notions of ethnicity, citizenship and belonging. Pierre Nora’s seminal work ‘Lieux de Mémoire’ provides an important theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between locations, events and symbols as central to the collective memory of the nation. It is notable that he, being a member of the French settler community in Algeria, was deeply entwined with the history of French colonial rule. However, Nora’s works often anchor themselves in a collective memory that has sanitised the traces of empire as if deemed unworthy of remembrance or simply considered marginal. Whilst Nora’s works are central to the field of memory studies, his perspective risks perpetuating a vision of France that obscures the foundational violence of its colonial enterprise and the enduring liminality of its post-colonial subjects. Although post-colonial perspectives have gained traction within and amongst French academic circles, they often challenge key aspects of French national character. The relegation, erasure and essentialization of ‘non-European’ history are not merely semantic, but emblematic of institutionalised reductionism and dismissal. Ideas of progress and modernity are presented as inherent and universalistic. I propose this constitutes a dual process of historical erasure, firstly the erasure and essentialization of ‘non-European’ history and secondly the erasure of the memory of the atrocities committed during French colonial rule. This dynamic ultimately affirms the positional superiority of France through disseminating a worldview that privileges Western epistemologies. This dual process of erasure is particularly pronounced when understanding the experiences of the Algerian diaspora whose presence actively challenges the memories and imaginaries of French colonial rule and modern claim of neutrality. The Algerian diaspora dispels the myth of a static, territorially bound nation-state by merely existing within French borders. The post-memories and mythification of Algeria in the consciousness of second and third-generation Algerians challenge the assimilationist policies of the French state whilst unsettling what ‘home’ means for these communities. Thus, diasporic memories are a form of resistance, recasting the past in a light that illuminates the pluralistic and often contentious nature of identity and belonging
Of Ethnographic (Mis)Translations on a Ward
No full textIn this Field Note, I take the opportunity to reflect on some of the concrete dilemmas that I was faced with in trying to negotiate, secure and maintain access to my field-site. These reflections derive from my engagement with infectious diseases physicians, at a renowned corporate tertiary care hospital in Southern India, who are working towards mitigating antibiotic/antimicrobial resistance. By drawing on the difficulties of felicitously translating my concerns, as an ethnographer, to the epistemological universe that animated (but did not wholly determine) my site of investigation allows me to think through what might or might not emerge as strategically useful in the varied loci that anthropologists are increasingly engaged with.
Voicework and The Disarticulation of Young People’s Mental Health Needs
No full textThis article is about anthropological research ethics amid the simultaneous hyper-valuation of young people’s voices and the disarticulation (the process of making inarticulate) of their mental health needs. I reflect on my experience of recording a podcast about mental health treatment with young people in a moral context where ‘voicework’ was prominent. Following feminist critiques of ‘voice’ and ‘choice’, I argue that critical concerns usually associated with ‘giving voice’—authenticity and empowerment—are limiting as means of ethically relating to needs, since they presume personhood rests on coherence, intentionality and articulate expression. Instead, I resolve to adopt a research ethics that focuses on articulating needs, rather than platforming voices. This account urges researchers—myself included—to do better in confronting the non-responsiveness of care systems
Session Two Panel Discussion: Open Research Policy and Procedures
No full textJoin Sara Sharp, Varina Jones-Reid, Damon Querry, Ali Kay, Crispin Jordan, and Will Cawthorn along with panel chair Dominic Tate to discuss their talks and to think about the impacts of policy and procedures on the challenges of open research.