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Platform Fissurisation and Regulatory Challenges in China’s Gig Economy: The Case of Food Delivery Platform Work
Get PDFThis study unpacks the distinctive features of layered employment models in China’s food delivery platform sector and assesses their implications for algorithmic management and the labour regulatory regime. It analyses the phenomenon of “platform fissurisation” to examine the impacts of layered employment, where gig workers are employed by third parties connected to the digital platform. The study focuses on the workplace practices of China’s largest food delivery platform, Meituan, to explore how the fissurisation of platform work interacts with algorithmic management to intensify labour control and shape worker precarity through mechanisms of rational control, normative control and collective control
Integrated Care for People Living With Rare Disease: A Scoping Review on Primary Care Models in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Countries
Get PDFIntroduction/Objectives: Individually rare, rare diseases are collectively common resulting in frequent health system use. Navigating the health system persists as a challenge. Primary care provides longitudinal contact with the health system and is placed to provide integrated rare-disease-care. Methods: This scoping review used Joanna Briggs Institute and PRISMA methods with a Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research based data extraction tool to find how integrated rare-disease-care is delivered, enablers and barriers to the same, in primary care settings in contemporary literature in OECD countries. Results: The Primary Care Provider (PCP) role varies from routine primary care to shared-rare-disease-care models. In the 26 papers, the most frequently cited PCP roles included involvement in diagnosis (n = 14), care coordination (n = 16), primary and preventative care (n = 18), management of components of rare-disease-care (n = 13), and treatment monitoring (n = 10). Individuals whose PCP was actively involved in their care were reported to have shortened diagnostic delay, improved transitions of care across the lifespan, reduced unplanned utilization of emergency and hospital services, comprehensive psychosocial care, improved quality of life across environments including home, school and work and improved palliative care experiences. Conclusions: Sufficient communication from specialists, information, resources, time and reimbursement for complex care are still needed. Future integrated-rare-disease-care models should be developed by, or with, PCPs
Harnessing Non-Antibiotic Strategies to Counter Multidrug-Resistant Clinical Pathogens with Special Reference to Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Coatings
Get PDFAntimicrobial resistance is a critical global challenge in the 21st century, validating Sir Alexander Fleming’s warning about the misuse of antibiotics leading to resistant microbes. With a dwindling arsenal of effective antibiotics, it is imperative to concentrate on alternative antimicrobial strategies. Previous studies have not comprehensively discussed the advantages and limitations of various strategies, including bacteriophage therapy, probiotics, immunotherapies, photodynamic therapy, essential oils, nanoparticles and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) within a single review. This review addresses that gap by providing an overview of these various non-antibiotic antimicrobial strategies, highlighting their pros and cons, with a particular emphasis on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). We explore the mechanism of action of AMPs against bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. While these peptides hold significant promise, their application in mainstream drug development is hindered by challenges such as low bioavailability and potential toxicity. However, advancements in peptide engineering and chemical modifications offer solutions to enhance their clinical utility. Additionally, this review presents updates on strategies aimed at improving the cost, stability and selective toxicity of AMPs through the development of peptidomimetics. These molecules have demonstrated effective activity against a broad range of pathogens, making them valuable candidates for integration into surface coatings to prevent device-associated infections. Furthermore, we discuss various approaches for attaching and functionalising these peptides on surfaces. Finally, we recommend comprehensive in vivo studies to evaluate the efficacy of AMPs and their mimetics, investigate their synergistic combinations with other molecules and assess their potential as coatings for medical devices
Statistics of ranks, determinants and characteristic polynomials of rational matrices
Get PDFWe consider the set of m × n matrices with rational entries having numerator and denominator of size at most H and obtain various upper bounds on the number of such matrices of a given rank, or with a given determinant, or a given characteristic polynomial. We also consider similar questions for matrices whose entries are Egyptian fractions
Healthcare practitioners as accomplices: a qualitative study of gender affirmation in a context of ambiguous regulation in Indonesia
Get PDFBackground: The World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines Standards of Care 8 draw on ethical arguments based on individual autonomy, to argue that healthcare and other professionals should be advocates for trans people. Such guidelines presume the presence of medical services for trans people and a degree of consensus on medical ethics. Very little is known, however, about the ethical challenges associated with both providing and accessing trans healthcare, including gender affirmation, in the Global South. In light of the challenges associated with medical and legal gender affirmation in Indonesia, we conducted a qualitative study to understand the views of trans people, healthcare providers, and legal practitioners. Methods: In this qualitative study, we drew on a participatory methodology to conduct 46 semi-structured interviews between October and December 2023, with trans people (10 trans feminine people and 10 trans masculine people, each interviewed twice) and key informants (three healthcare providers and three lawyers and paralegals). Trans people were a central part of the research team from inception through to analysis and writing. Participants were recruited via community-led sampling. Data analysis of interview data took place through an immersion/crystallisation technique and preliminary inductive coding which highlighted key quotes. We focused on an inductive analysis using participant narratives to identify key concepts in the ethics of gender affirmation in Indonesia. Results: We characterize the ethics of supportive healthcare workers, community members, and family members, as that akin to “accomplices,” a concept of ethics used in theories of racial justice which evaluate a willingness to support people to navigate laws and regulations which perpetuate injustices and violence. Overall, both trans people and key informants shared an understanding that the legal status of gender-affirming medical care was particularly ambiguous in Indonesia due to a lack of clarity in both laws and regulations. For trans participants, ethical arguments for the validity of legal and medical gender affirmation was premised on evidence that their gender identity and expression was already recognized within society, even if limited to immediate friends and family. Given that all participants expressed a desire for gender affirmation, but such services were widely unavailable, accomplices played a crucial role in supporting trans people to access healthcare. Conclusions: An empirical study based on an “ethics from below” helps to show that arguments grounded in autonomy, or based on biomedical evidence, are unlikely to alter unjust laws or facilitate a change to pathologizing guidelines governing understanding of trans people’s healthcare and legal needs in Indonesia. We provide an analysis that is sensitive to the ethics of facilitating gender affirmation in a context where that process is inherently social, and often articulated in relation to a prevailing religious morality
Investigating metabolite cargo of extracellular vesicles for prostate cancer personalised medicine
Get PDFProstate cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in Western countries. Current diagnostic methods include serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), digital rectal examination (DRE), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and tissue biopsy. Despite their widespread use, TRUS and biopsies are invasive, painful, and can result in false negatives due to PCa's multifocality. Thus, there is an urgent need for more sensitive and specific biomarkers to improve PCa diagnosis and prognosis for personalised medicine.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs), lipid-bilayer nanovesicles secreted by various cell types to almost all body fluids, offer significant potential in clinical applications. Recent research utilising genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics has explored the molecular cargo of EVs. Unlike genomics and proteomics, metabolomics provides functional insights into environmental influences and non-genetic factors, improving the identification of precise cancer biomarkers for early diagnosis and disease monitoring.
In this thesis, my objectives were to 1) Optimise a methodology for EV metabolomics; 2) Identify the most effective EV metabolomics approach for PCa biomarker discovery; 3) Discover potential EV metabolic biomarkers for PCa diagnosis and prognosis. I performed metabolomic analysis using large EVs (lEVs) and small EVs (sEVs) isolated from a panel of PCa cell lines (PC3, DU145, LNCaP, 22RV1) compared to a normal prostate epithelial cell line (PNT2).
My results indicate that removing protein interference with 80% methanol and shearing cells by microbeads is an effective method for extracting intra-vesicle metabolites, followed by compound separation using a ZIC-pHILIC chromatography column. Machine learning algorithms were established to develop three distinct metabolic signatures for PCa management, covering diagnosis, early detection and risk stratification, improving diagnostic and prognostic accuracy.
In conclusion, my optimised EV metabolomics protocol can effectively facilitate PCa biomarker discovery, with lEVs proving more universal than sEVs in biomarker discovery, requiring less time, effort, and materials for isolation while being rich in biomarkers. Specifically, arginine and ornithine identified in lEVs, and 2,4,6-octatriynoic acid and hydroiodic acid identified in sEVs, show promise for PCa diagnosing and predicting metastasis, warranting further validation. Future research is expected to validate these potential metabolic biomarkers in larger, more diverse clinical sample cohorts to confirm their diagnostic and prognostic utility for clinical translation
Controlling Enzyme Inspired Substrate Channels for Increased Selectivity in Electrocatalysis and Sensing
Get PDFMulti-step or cascade reactions are reactions in which a product of one reaction becomes a reactant in another, and essentially an intermediate in an overall larger reaction. These reactions have traditionally been difficult to promote at electrochemical interfaces due to the tendency for the intermediate species to diffuse away from the surface into the bulk solution. Recent advances in nanomaterial synthesis have allowed for the development of nanostructures capable of confining reaction intermediate species generated in electrochemical reactions. This allows for the promotion of multi-step electrochemical reactions which do not occur under more standard electrochemical reaction conditions.
The conceptual basis for the confining nanostructures is to mimic enzymatic substrate channels which form in the polypeptide structure of some enzymes. These substrate channels control reactivity by controlling access of reactants to the active site, altering the solution environment near the active site and causing strain in the reactant molecule, facilitating the reaction.
This thesis details the synthesis, characterisation and electrochemical application of two different nanoparticle geometries which utilise enzyme inspired nanoconfining substrate channels to achieve selectivity either for products, in the case of electrochemical CO2 reduction, or a reactant for electrochemical glucose oxidation. Lastly, these principles are extended to the detection of two reactants from the simultaneous detection of dopamine and glucose in whole blood
Accelerated Asylum Procedures: Comparing International Practice
Get PDFWith asylum systems around the world facing ever-increasing backlogs and delays, many governments are implementing various forms of accelerated processing to speed up asylum procedures. Fair and fast asylum processing is in the best interest of both governments and asylum applicants. However, many existing approaches to acceleration tilt the balance too far towards efficiency, at the cost of fairness. This article examines the proliferation of accelerated procedures around the world, highlighting both commonalities and differences, as well as key concerns. It situates the Swiss accelerated asylum procedures within comparative practice around the world. The Swiss procedures include key safeguards absent in other jurisdictions, and come closest to balancing fairness and efficiency. However, regardless of these safeguards, acceleration comes with risks, including an increased likelihood of incorrect decisions, and the removal of people owed international protection, in violation of international law
pH-Dependant Electrochemical Oxidation of Small Molecules on Glassy Carbon, Platinum and Gold
Get PDFComposite electrodes often consisting of a purportedly inactive support material modified with a variety of nanomaterials, surface chemistry and coatings are commonly employed as electroanalytical devices for detection of biologically relevant molecules. However, these electrodes are often used in various electrolytes and biological fluids treated in a variety of ways making comparisons between materials difficult. Additionally, nanomaterial designers have developed techniques capable of controlling the local solution environment at the interface of electrodes. Herein, we present a study of the electro-oxidation of glucose, ascorbic acid, uric acid and dopamine on glassy carbon, platinum and gold. Peak potential and current versus pH are presented to provide a database and resource to aid in the deconvolution of the electrochemical response produced by these materials. Additionally, in light of recent developments in pH control within nanoconfined electrodes, a study of how altering the pH of an electrolyte allows for the separation of previously overlapping peaks is presented