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Third party funding: self-regulation in the UK
Get PDFThis article considers the background to the self-regulation of third party funding of civil legal claims in England and Wales. It examines the means by which self-regulation through the Code of Conduct for the Association of Litigation Funders has evolved, along with arguments for reform
Multi-sensory potential of archives in dementia care
Get PDFThis paper aimed to review the potential for archival items to be used to support therapeutic interventions in dementia care, with a particular focus on olfactory stimuli. Archival research was used to identify objects and to re-create authentic historical product fragrances from Boots UK. Potentially therapeutic material and smells for people living with dementia were identified and olfactory profiles created. These were characterized by strong smells and items featuring well-known brands and distinctive packaging including carbolic soap and Old English Lavender talcum powder. A dataset of items has been created for use in future research studies
Privatizing police discretion—‘private security criminal investigations’ in Sweden
Get PDFThis article highlights the commodification of private security criminal investigations in Sweden. Today, the reach of the private security industry extends to almost all responsibilities traditionally reserved for the police. Regulation is constantly trying to catch up with the ever-changing scope and nature of private security. When looking at private security industry regulation in the European Union, Sweden enjoys one of the most comprehensive frameworks. There are however gaps and private security criminal investigation is one which, if left unchecked, could possibly lead to a dangerous commodification of justice and decreasing trust in the police. In this article, these issues are explored through interviews with a number of stakeholders. The interviews reveal that the potential danger lies in circumstances whereby police are, for various reasons, forced to turn down investigations. Citizens and organizations alike then have the opportunity to proceed with the investigation through a private security service provider. Presented with a complete substratum for prosecution, the police are incentivized to proceed. Thus, police discretion as to whether or not to proceed with an investigation is effectively for sale. The article consequently calls for a revision of Swedish private security regulation
Rabies virus pseudotyped with CVS-N2C glycoprotein as a powerful tool for retrograde neuronal network tracing
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Background: Efficient viral vectors for mapping and manipulating long projection neuronal circuits are crucial in brain structural and functional studies. The glycoprotein gene-deleted SAD strain rabies virus pseudotyped with the N2C glycoprotein (SAD-RV(ΔG)-N2C(G)) shows high neuro-tropism in cell culture, but its in vivo retrograde infection efficiency and neuro-tropism have not been systematically characterized.
Methods: SAD-RV(ΔG)-N2C(G) and two other broadly used retrograde tracers, SAD-RV(ΔG)-B19(G) and rAAV2-retro were respectively injected into the VTA or DG in C57BL/6 mice. The neuron numbers labeled across the whole brain regions were counted and analyzed by measuring the retrograde infection efficiencies and tropisms of these viral tools. The labeled neural types were analyzed using fluorescence immunohistochemistry or GAD67-GFP mice.
Result: We found that SAD-RV (ΔG)-N2C (G) enhanced the infection efficiency of long-projecting neurons by ~ 10 times but with very similar neuro-tropism, compared with SAD-RV (ΔG)-B19(G). On the other hand, SAD-RV(ΔG)-N2C(G) showed comparable infection efficiency with rAAV2-retro, but had a more restricted diffusion range, and broader tropism to different types and regions of long-projecting neuronal populations.
Conclusions: These results demonstrate that SAD-RV(ΔG)-N2C(G) can serve as an effective retrograde vector for studying neuronal circuits.
Key words：Viral vector, N2C Glycoprotein, Neuronal circuits, Retrograde tracin
Prevailing familial, social and cultural obstacles in keeping tobacco-free homes in urban areas of Bangladesh: a mixed-method study
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Millions of children and others across the world are being dangerously exposed to tobacco smoke and toxins in their own homes. There is limited interest in laws and interventions controlling tobacco use in public places in Bangladesh, but no attention has been given to preventing tobacco use inside homes. This study explores the familial and socio-cultural factors that provide obstacles for ensuring tobacco-free homes in urban residential areas in Bangladesh.
Materials and methods A mixed-method design was adopted and from among the 1,436 tobacco users identified in a population of 11,853, 400 (tobacco users) were selected for cross-sectional survey. This survey involved a probability proportional sampling procedure, and 24 In-Depth Interviews. Survey data were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression followed by thematic content analysis on the qualitative data, and then inferences were drawn out collectively.
Results This study revealed that the prevalence of tobacco use in the home was 25.7% in urban residential areas in Bangladesh. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified that familial and socio-cultural factors were significantly associated with tobacco use at home: marital status (OR 3.23, 95% CI: 1.37-6.61), education (OR 2.14, 95% CI: 1.15-3.99), smoking habits of older family members (OR 1.81 95% CI: 0.91-2.89), tobacco being offered as hospitality and for entertainment (OR 1.85, 95% CI: .94-2.95) and lack of religiosity practice (OR 2.39, 95% CI: 1.27-4.54). Qualitative findings indicated that social customs, lack of religious practice, tobacco use of older family members, and lack of family guidance were key obstacles for enabling tobacco-free homes in urban areas.
Conclusion
Use of tobacco at home is continuing as part of established familial and socio-cultural traditions. If tobacco use at home is not addressed seriously by the authorities then the emerging threat of second-hand smoke exposure and harmful consequences of tobacco use will be exacerbated
Call Thou Upon My Name Unto Eternity, And It Shall Never Fail
No full textVideo Art Piece exploring the role of prayer in our post-modern societ
Testing a goal-driven account of involuntary attentional capture by threat
Get PDFAttention has long been characterised within prominent models as reflecting a competition between goal-driven and stimulus-driven processes. It remains unclear, however, how involuntary attentional capture by affective stimuli, such as threat-laden content, fits into such models. While such effects were traditionally held to reflect stimulus-driven processes, recent research has increasingly implicated a critical role of goal-driven processes. Here we test an alternative goal-driven account of involuntary attentional capture by threat, using an experimental manipulation of goal-driven attention. To this end we combined the classic ‘contingent capture’ and ‘emotion-induced blink’ (EIB) paradigms in an RSVP task with both positive or threatening target search goals. Across six experiments, positive and threat distractors were presented in peripheral, parafoveal, and central locations. Across all distractor locations, we found that involuntary attentional capture by irrelevant threatening distractors could be induced via the adoption of a search goal for a threatening category; adopting a goal for a positive category conversely led to capture only by positive stimuli. Our findings provide direct experimental evidence for a causal role of voluntary goals in involuntary capture by irrelevant threat stimuli, and hence demonstrate the plausibility of a top-down account of this phenomenon. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to current cognitive models of attention and clinical disorders
