Open Research Exeter - University of Exeter
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Film, narrative agency, and the politics of care in veteran Britain
No full textFilm offers untapped potential for making critical interventions in world politics, particularly in ways that harness people’s capacity to narrate stories that creatively empower their communities. Combining International Relations (IR) scholarship on visual politics with narrative theory and feminist scholarship on care, this paper presents film as a means of exploring and expressing narrative agency; that is, the power to tell stories that represent people’s experiences in ways that disrupt hegemonic narratives. Dialectics of care and narrative agency are explored in the context of military-to-civilian ‘transition’ in Britain. We argue that the landscape of transition for military veterans is dominated by a preoccupation with employment and economic productivity, resulting in a ‘care deficit’ for veterans leaving the military. Through the Stories in Transition project, which used co-created film to explore narrative agency in the context of three veterans’ charities, we argue that the act of making care visible constitutes a necessary intervention in this transitional landscape. Grounding this intervention within feminist care ethics and the related notion of care aesthetics, we highlight the potential for film to reveal in compelling audio-visual narratives an alternative project of transition which might better sustain life and hope in the aftermath of military service.</p
Recessive TMEM167A variants cause neonatal diabetes, microcephaly and epilepsy syndrome
No full textUnderstanding the genetic causes of diseases affecting pancreatic β cells and neurons can give insights into pathways essential for both cell types. Microcephaly, epilepsy and diabetes syndrome (MEDS) is a congenital disorder with two known aetiological genes, IER3IP1 and YIPF5. Both genes encode proteins involved in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to Golgi trafficking. We used genome sequencing to identify 6 individuals with MEDS caused by biallelic variants in the novel disease gene, TMEM167A. All had neonatal diabetes (diagnosed <6 months) and severe microcephaly, five also had epilepsy. TMEM167A is highly expressed in developing and adult human pancreas and brain. To gain insights into the mechanisms leading to diabetes, we silenced TMEM167A in EndoC-βH1 cells and knocked-in one patient’s variant, p.Val59Glu, in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Both TMEM167A depletion in EndoC-βH1 cells and the p.Val59Glu variant in iPSC-derived β cells sensitized β cells to ER stress. The p.Val59Glu variant impaired proinsulin trafficking to the Golgi and induced iPSC-β cell dysfunction. The discovery of TMEM167A variants as a new genetic cause of MEDS highlights a critical role of TMEM167A in the ER to Golgi pathway in β cells and neurons.</p
Re-imagining greyhounds: interrogating conundrums of care within the greyhound imaginary
No full textGreyhounds are dogs whose circa 100-year utilitarian entanglements with humans have led them to be labelled as the most thoroughly commodified dog breed in the US (Rice, 2018). Described as ‘fast racers’ or the ‘best of companions’, greyhounds are a breed in flux (Madden, 2010), as neither representation gives space to understanding the full trajectory of individual greyhound lives.
The past decade has witnessed a raft of global anti-racing political action, which suggests that commercial racing is entering a downward spiral. In the UK too, the ethics of racing is under scrutiny. In Wales (the geographical home of this study) a recent announcement by Welsh Government of their intention to ban racing has put commercial racing on notice, although a delivery plan for this is still to be articulated. Whilst the forecast demise of greyhound racing is arguably good for greyhounds, political backflips following bans in other racing nations (e.g., Australia), reminds us that political commitments cannot always be taken at face value. Once killed en masse at the end of their racing ‘careers’, the repurposing and rehoming of greyhounds as ‘pets’ is the main way that the problem of surplus industry greyhounds is currently apprehended. However, little attention has been paid to this aspect of the greyhound (re)cycle and the lived experiences of ‘de-briefed’ and repurposed greyhounds is both a gap in literature and praxis.
Grounded through a feminist ethics of care framework and conducted over 6 years of scholarly activism for greyhounds, my multi-sited anti-anthropocentric autoethnography spans the social worlds of greyhound racing, rescue and adoption in Wales, drawing on relational data to inform structural arguments. Foregrounding biographical narratives of individual greyhounds rejected by commercial racing, my study discovered that these dogs both participate in and resist aspects of their care in their post-racing ‘pet’ lives. Moreover, that public imaginations of greyhounds or ‘greyhound mythologies’ problematically preside over the lived experiences of these dogs, and complicate understandings about the consequent residues of harm they carry. Despite perceptions of their existence as separate entities, greyhound racing and greyhound rescue industries operate as constituent parts of the same greyhound (re)cycle, which dictates the conditions under which care operates, the purposes it serves and whom it benefits. Such forces function to blunt efforts to craft new ways of caring about, for and with greyhounds.
Pragmatically situated as a tool to help shape social justice movements as they build momentum alongside the highs and lows of political change, my study not only disrupts the current greyhound imaginary, but it also calls on activists, advocates and rescuers to engage in the important work to re-imagine these commodified lives.</p
Kurdish Politics in the Middle East, Secularism vs Political Islam, A Distinctive Performance of Politics in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria
No full textWithin four countries in the Middle East that have been involved with Political Islamism, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria, the Kurds have not turned to Islamism, and the mainstream of Kurdish politics never was Islamism. Another aspect of Kurdish politics in the Middle East is that Kurdish movements have not adopted secular totalitarian approaches like ultra-right, undemocratic nationalism. The Kurds have identified their movements with democratic and leftist values rather than merely nationalistic feelings. This study does not present Kurdish performance in these fields as perfect. Still, compared with other state-led or ethno-nationalist movements, the Kurds have performed more successfully in promoting democracy and secularism.
The central theme of my research is how the Kurds still play in secular fields, and Islamists have never succeeded in becoming the leading political actors in Kurdish politics in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.
In this study, the theories of nationalism, ethnic political parties, late modernisation, and political organisation will be discussed from a Kurdish perspective. I aim to answer these questions: How have the Kurdish movements survived plunging into Islamism and reconciling nationalism with democratic values? Why do all other nationalisms in the Middle East tend to totalitarian and undemocratic behaviours? How their versions of secularism have all failed, but Kurdish secularism is still alive? And, can this Kurdish experience in keeping politics away from religion be used in other societies in the Middle East, especially in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria?
The Kurds have a history of cooperation between their movements in different parts of Kurdistan. Cross-border activity is one of the main features of Kurdish movements. They also sometimes cooperate with neighbouring countries and receive tactical external support. These two aspects of the Kurdish movements will also be assessed to find out how they affect the Kurdish movements.</p
Microplastic contamination is widespread across invertebrate taxa frequently consumed by terrestrial vertebrates
No full textLittle is known about the contamination of terrestrial food webs by microplastics. We conducted community-level assessments of invertebrates at 51 sites in England, sampling four trophic levels and six taxonomic groups. We hypothesized that plastic contamination would be most common in herbivores and detritivores, owing to the accumulation of microplastics in soil and plant material. A total of 581 samples, comprising pooled individuals from the same site and species, were digested using hydrogen peroxide and subsequently examined by micro-Fourier transform infrared microscopy. Plastic was found in 11.8% (95% CI 9.3%, 14.6%) of the samples, including all tested taxonomic groups and trophic levels, regardless of life history traits or dietary habits. The highest prevalence of plastic-positive samples was in Opisthopora (earthworms; 29.4%) and Stylommatophora (snails and slugs; 24.1%). Herbivores and detritivores were the trophic groups with the highest proportion of plastic-positive samples (15.4% and 10.2%, respectively). Although the prevalence was lower in carnivores, these animals ingested significantly larger microplastics when compared with other trophic levels. The most abundant polymers were polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, and polyacrylamide. Polyester was present across all taxonomic groups and trophic levels, along with varying amounts of other polymers. The lack of correspondence between soil samples and invertebrate samples highlights the requirement to survey a range of invertebrates as well as soil to gain a full insight of the level of contamination in each site to ensure that the correct conclusions are drawn.</p
A nitric oxide sensing two-component system regulates a range of infection-related phenotypes in Burkholderia pseudomallei
No full textThe tier 1 bioterrorism agent Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, a tropical disease with fatality rates that can exceed 40% despite antibiotic therapy. Antibiotic failure is likely to be, at least in part, due to biofilm-dwelling B. pseudomallei and therefore an improved understanding of how this pathogen regulates biofilm formation could reveal new opportunities for clinical intervention. The antimicrobial radical nitric oxide (NO) plays a key role in host immune defences against bacteria and the ability of B. pseudomallei to sense and mitigate NO toxicity is vital for establishing infection. Nitric oxide sensing proteins (NosPs), which have recently emerged as key regulators of biofilm formation in many bacterial species, use a FIST domain to sense NO via a bound heme. We hypothesised that the NosP homologue in B. pseudomallei would regulate biofilm formation and mediate NO-protective responses. We used [γ-32P]ATP autophosphorylation assays to show that NosP of B. pseudomallei controls the autophosphorylation rate of an associated histidine kinase protein (NosK) in an NO-dependent manner. NosK was found to phosphorylate a response regulator protein (NosR) with an HD-GYP output domain, which is associated with c-di-GMP signalling, therefore implicating NosP in modulating c-di-GMP-regulated phenotypes. Unmarked, in-frame deletion of either nosP or nosK caused significant changes in B. pseudomallei biofilm formation and increased sensitivity to nitrosative stress, in addition to affecting other virulence traits such as growth and swimming motility. These results indicate that NosP and NosK signalling controls a range of infection-relevant phenotypes and may serve as targets for novel therapeutic intervention. </p
Building wellbeing in young people with depression: Adapting Augmented Depression Therapy
No full textDepression in young people is highly prevalent and has severe repercussions throughout the lifespan. Psychological treatments are only moderately effective and improving outcomes is an urgent public health priority. Identifying novel treatment targets, such as the positive valence system (PVS), may improve outcomes. In young people with depression, PVS impairments are highly prevalent, central to diagnosis and phenomenology, and prognostically relevant. In adults, PVS outcomes such as anhedonia, positive affect and wellbeing, are poorer compared to negative affect, and depression. Augmented depression therapy (ADepT), a novel psychological treatment for depression, targets wellbeing alongside symptoms, has been validated in adults, and is yet to be explored in young people. Moreover, to adapt and refine ADepT for young people, an understanding of ADepT’s mechanisms is necessary. The overall aim of this thesis was to adapt ADepT to treat depression in young people. First, I conducted a systematic review (Chapter Two) to examine whether current treatments for depression in young people adequately target anhedonia, positive affect, and wellbeing. Next, I conducted a case series (Chapter Three) to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of ADepT for young adults with depression. Finally, I examined whether experiential processing (EP) is a mechanism underlying ADepT’s effects on the PVS. This included a questionnaire validation study (Chapter Four) in which I validated a novel scale measuring Basic Awareness of Sensory Experiences (BASES) in young adults. I also did an experimental study (Chapter Five) in which I used ecological momentary sampling to investigate the impact of an EP manipulation on positive affect during a pleasant outdoor walk. Collectively, my thesis presents several novel contributions, with a range of research and clinical implications, for the field of positive clinical psychology interventions for depression in young people.</p
Distributed nodal water demand estimation for real-time modeling of large-scale water distribution systems using Bayesian decomposition
No full textReal-time hydraulic modeling of water distribution systems (WDS) is crucial for effective network operation and control. Nodal water demand, a key time-varying parameter, requires accurate real-time estimation to ensure reliable simulations. However, estimating nodal water demand in large-scale WDS is challenging due to high computational demands. This study presents an innovative distributed estimation approach that decentralizes the process into localized tasks across multiple compute nodes, using Bayesian decomposition. The method also incorporates sensor grouping and global information sharing to improve accuracy and prevent convergence to local optima. Evaluations on two large-scale WDSs show that this approach increases computational efficiency by up to eight times compared to traditional centralized methods, while maintaining comparable accuracy. This represents a significant advancement in real-time hydraulic modeling, offering scalable solutions with important implications for both research and engineering applications.</p
Young men's experiences of violence and poverty and the relationship to sexually transmissible HIV: a cross sectional study from rural South Africa.
No full textBackground: Young men are inadequately engaged in HIV prevention and treatment globally, including in South Africa, increasing the likelihood of them having sexually transmissible HIV (ie, living with HIV but with high viral loads). We sought to understand how men's experiences of poverty and violence affected transmissible HIV, directly or indirectly through mental health and substance misuse.Setting: Rural communities in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.Methods: Cross-sectional population-based sample (September 2018–June 2019), assessing transmissible HIV (living with HIV and viral load ≥400 copies/mL, compared with individuals either not living with HIV, or living with HIV and viral load Results: In total, 2,086 (ages 13–35 years) men and 8.6% (n = 178) men had transmissible HIV. There was no direct pathway from food insecurity, or violence experience, to transmissible HIV. Low perceptions of life chances mediated the relationship between food insecurity and transmissible HIV. In addition, increased poor mental health, through increased alcohol use, also mediated these relationships.Conclusions: Transmissible HIV was common among young men. The analysis highlights the need to address the proximate “drivers” of low perceptions of life chances and substance misuse, and men's experiences of poverty and violence. Building multicomponent interventions that engage these multiple challenges is critical for improving HIV among young men.</p
A Novel Investigation of an In-Scanner Alternative to the Cold Pressor Test in Healthy Individuals
No full textThe cold pressor task (CPT) is widely used to study tonic pain during acute and chronic conditions and is often used as a conditioning stimulus to activate descending pain control systems. However, logistical challenges in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) limit its application, hindering the understanding of CPT's neural dynamics. To address this, we acquired resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) data from 30 healthy participants before, during and after immersion in gelled-cold water, the closest in-scanner alternative to date to CPT for prolonged stimulation. Participants provided subjective pain intensity ratings after each scan, as well as average pain perceived during noxious stimulation, using a numeric rating scale (NRS). Following fMRI, participants rated their pain continuously during identical tonic noxious stimulation of the contralateral hand using a visual analogue scale (VAS). We employed three complementary methods to examine changes in brain function across fMRI conditions: a data-driven approach via independent component analysis (ICA), seed-to-whole-brain connectivity analysis with the periaqueductal grey (PAG) as seed and spectral dynamic causal modelling (spDCM) to explore effective connectivity changes across the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), anterior insulae (AI), thalamus and PAG. NRS scores were significantly higher following tonic cold compared to baseline and recovery conditions. Continuous VAS reflected sustained mild-to-moderate pain over 6 min, with average VAS scores not significantly differing from NRS ratings recorded in the scanner. ICA identified engagement of descending pain control and sensorimotor networks during pain, with the latter persisting during recovery. Seed-based analysis revealed a disengagement between the PAG and cortical/subcortical regions involved in pain processing, such as the dACC, midcingulate cortex, AI, intraparietal sulcus and precuneus. Finally, spDCM revealed tonic pain neural signature was most likely characterised by top-down inhibitory and bottom-up excitatory connections. This study establishes the cold gelled-water paradigm as a potential in-scanner alternative to CPT. By uncovering key neural dynamics of CPT, we provide new insights into the brain and brainstem mechanisms of tonic cold pain paradigms routinely used in psychophysical pain studies.</p