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Women talking: bringing the environment into UK parliamentary speeches
No full textResearch shows that increased participation of women in parliaments benefits climate change outcomes. Yet, the actions taken by women parliamentarians to shape these outcomes have not been identified in the literature. I assert that a primary step by which women may generate impact is by championing environmentalism in their speeches before parliament. To test this, I analyse speeches from the UK House of Commons from 2010 to 2021, and find that women MPs both speak proportionately more about the environment than their male counterparts, and bring environmentalism into debates that are not explicitly coded as environmental. Finally, while Conservative women are outnumbered by men, they contribute significantly more to environmental speeches than their male counterparts. These results suggest that women are disproportionately responsible for embedding environmentalism into political discussions across Parliament and the Conservative Party, and prompt questions around the true cost of unequal representation for our climate
Farmers, monks and raiders: exploring cultural and environmental transitions during the 1st millennium AD on the island of Tiree
Get PDFFrom the 6th century AD, documentary records suggest that Tiree became home to several monastic communities, including St. Columba’s Mag-Luinge. It is unclear whether these were still present at the start of Norse occupation in the 9th century, or whether the island experienced the sort of Viking attacks that were documented on Iona between the 8th and 10th centuries. This paper provides new insight into the cultural transitions impacting Tiree between the 7th and 10th centuries using a high-resolution palaeoenvironmental sampling strategy. Findings include a strong agricultural economy during the 7th century (close to Soroby, one of the proposed locations of Mag-Luinge); a brief period of agricultural collapse (cereals) during the 8th century (possible causes: Viking/other raids, disease, or environmental change?); and arable intensification, burning, heathland and arboreal decline between the 9th and 10th centuries, potentially linked to Norse occupation. A similar collapse-recovery has been found on Iona
Public Sector Radio in Scotland: A View from The Tenementals
Get PDFWritten evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee enquiry on Scottish Broadcasting. Uploaded 12 January 2026
A metabolism-specific drug-repurposing screen reveals itraconazole as a potent OXPHOS inhibitor in acute myeloid leukemia
No full textTargeting mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) enhances the effects of standard chemotherapy and overcomes treatment resistance in pre-clinical models of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). So far, the few clinically available OXPHOS inhibitors have shown adverse effects or limited potency in clinical trials, therefore, identification of safe and effective drugs that can target mitochondrial metabolism in AML is critical. Here, we performed a high-throughput drug-repurposing screen, designed to identify clinically applicable OXPHOS-specific inhibitors through nutrient sensing. We uncover itraconazole, an FDA-approved antifungal compound, as a potent OXPHOS inhibitor in AML cells. Mechanistically, through stable isotope-assisted metabolomics and functional studies, we reveal that CYP51A1, which is part of the cytochrome P450 family and the prime target of azole antifungals, is involved in mitochondrial respiration and ETC complex I activity in AML cells. Critically, we demonstrate that itraconazole and related azole antifungals interfere with tricarboxylic acid cycle activity and inhibit OXPHOS through the inhibition of electron transport chain complex I activity. Over-expression of yeast NADH dehydrogenase-1 (NDI1) restored mitochondrial NADH oxidation and complex I activity upon itraconazole treatment. Using patient-derived cells and pre-clinical xenograft models, we demonstrate that itraconazole targets therapy-resistant leukaemic stem cells (LSCs) when used in combination with cytarabine, highlighting the repurposing potential for itraconazole as a clinically safe and effective therapeutic option for AML LSC eradication
The Firefighter problem with dynamic defence costs
Get PDFThe Firefighter Problem is a single-player game modelling the spread of a contagion (e.g. rumours, diseases) on a graph. The player’s objective is to defend vertices to protect at least a given number. This problem is computationally hard, but it can be solved efficiently on certain restricted classes of graph, such as complete graphs (in constant time) and graphs with path length at most ℓ−1 (in �((n +m)nℓ−2)-time). Wedefine The Cost Function Firefighter Problem, the first variant of the Firefighter problem that introduces vertex defence costs depending on time and game state. We show the Cost Function problem is computationally hard even for classes of trees on which the classic problem is tractable, but tractable on some very restricted graph classes (complete graphs, graphs of fixed bounded path length and trees under certain conditions). By expressing our variant in monadic second-order logic, we prove it is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to treewidth, budget, and maximum time step. To complement theoretical findings, we undertake empirical investigation to compare performance of cost, threat and degree-based heuristics under various cost functions. We find that the relative effectiveness of these heuristics depends heavily on graph structure, with degree-based heuristics generally performing worse than state-based strategies. We show how these heuristics play out on both random and real-world interaction graphs
Predicting cardiopulmonary exercise testing outcomes in congenital heart disease through multimodal data integration and geometric learning
Get PDFCardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides a comprehensive assessment of functional capacity by measuring key physiological variables including oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), and pulmonary ventilation (VE) during exercise. Previous research has identified peak VO2 and VE/VCO2 ratio as robust predictors of mortality risk in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients as well as in congenital heart disease (CHD). This study utilises CPET variables as surrogate mortality endpoints for patients with CHD. To our knowledge, this represents the first successful implementation of an advanced machine learning approach that predicts CPET outcomes by integrating electrocardiograms (ECGs) with information derived from clinical letters. Our methodology began with extracting unstructured patient information from clinical letters using natural language processing techniques, organising this data into a structured database. We then digitised ECGs to obtain quantifiable waveforms and established comprehensive data linkages. The core innovation of our approach lies in exploiting the Riemannian geometric properties of covariance matrices derived from both 12-lead ECGs and clinical text data to develop robust regression and classification models. Through extensive ablation studies, we demonstrated that the integration of ECG signals with clinical documentation, enhanced by covariance augmentation techniques in Riemannian space, consistently produced superior predictive performance compared to conventional approaches
Household determinants of healthcare utilisation in three informal settlements in Freetown, Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional survey
Get PDFObjective: Healthcare utilisation (HU) is key to improving the health of residents in urban informal settlements. This study aimed to explore household-level factors influencing HU among informal settlement households in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Design: Cross-sectional survey.
Setting: Three informal settlements (Cockle Bay, Dwarzark and Moyiba) in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Participants: Primary data from 4871 households were collected during the Health and Wellbeing survey conducted between April and May 2023, targeting households with adults aged 18 years and older.
Primary outcome measures: The primary outcomes were households HU both within and outside informal settlements. Household-level predisposing and enabling explanatory variables were derived from Andersen’s Behavioural Model of HU.
Results: Disability in households increases HU within settlements (especially in Dwarzark, 13% and Moyiba, 10%) but is less likely outside. Households engaged in income-generating activities are more likely to seek healthcare within settlements, but 12% less likely outside in Cockle Bay and Dwarzark. Food insecurity decreases HU within Dwarzark (9%) and increases HU outside by 174% in Moyiba. Longer water fetching times and water shortages were associated with higher HU (between 6% and 16%) within settlements, especially in Cockle Bay and Dwarzark. Clean water sources (eg, piped dwelling, bowser, surface, bottled) were consistently associated with higher HU both within and outside settlements. Shared sanitation facilities (such as shared toilets) were positively associated with HU both within and outside settlements, particularly in Dwarzark and Moyiba. Households with income from fishing, informal salaried work and bike riding showed higher HU both within and outside settlements, especially in Dwarzark and Moyiba.
Conclusions: We identified strong settlement-specific patterns of household-level factors that influence HU both within and outside Freetown’s informal settlements. These findings provide a foundation for developing targeted policies such as strengthening local services, addressing affordability and accessibility barriers and supporting vulnerable occupation groups
The COVID-19 pandemic has not influenced survival outcomes of head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinomas in the West of Scotland: a retrospective cohort study
Get PDFBackground:
The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant disruptions to healthcare worldwide. This study aimed to assess if the COVID-19 pandemic affected short-term survival outcomes of patients with head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in the west of Scotland.
Methods:
A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using regional centre data. Patients diagnosed with HNSCC during pre-pandemic (June-October 2019), intra-pandemic (June-October 2020) and post(peak)-pandemic (June-October 2022) were compared. Demographic, behavioural, clinical, and survival data were analysed using Kaplan-Meier curves, Cox-regression, and logistic-regression for stage at diagnosis.
Results:
A total of 707 patients were included. While the 2020 cohort exhibited an increase in advanced-stage disease (67.5% p = 0.01), no statistically significant difference in overall survival was observed across the study period (p = 0.22). Cox-regression showed no associations between year of diagnosis and mortality, even after multivariable adjustment for confounders. Survival was strongly associated with age, performance status, stage, and HPV status among oropharynx cancers. Socioeconomic inequalities persisted, with the poorest survival among those from the most socioeconomically deprived areas (p = 0.02).
Conclusions:
While an increase in advanced-stage HNSCC diagnoses was observed in the West of Scotland during 2020, short-term survival outcomes remained comparable to pre- and post-pandemic
The potential impact of reduced international donor funding on the household economic burden of tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries: a modelling study
Get PDFBackground: Recent shifts in the global health funding landscape—most notably the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and possible reduced contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria (Global Fund)—threaten essential tuberculosis (TB) services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We quantified the potential impact on the household economic burden of TB. Methods and findings: We used linked epidemiological and economic models, calibrated to 79 LMICs, to estimate future TB patient costs under six scenarios: continuation of 2024 funding levels (baseline), termination of USAID, termination of USAID plus announced reductions in Global Fund contributions from the USA alone, termination of USAID plus complete termination of Global Fund contributions from the USA alone, termination of USAID plus announced reductions in Global Fund contributions from all donor countries contributing 1% or more to the budget, and full elimination of external funding for TB. Outcomes included total TB-attributable household costs and numbers of households experiencing catastrophic costs (disease-related costs >20% of annual income). USAID termination was projected to produce US6.1–8.9) billion in additional patient-incurred costs and 3.9 (3.1–4.6) million additional households experiencing catastrophic costs over 2025–2050. The worst-case scenario (elimination of all external funding) resulted in 60.099.2) billion in additional patient-incurred costs and 40.5 (30.9–50.7) million additional households experiencing catastrophic costs—a 32% increase over baseline. Impacts were greatest for poorer households, with over 50% of additional catastrophic costs occurring in the poorest 20% of households. This analysis is limited by substantial uncertainty regarding costs faced by untreated patients and assumptions of constant patient costs and uniform treatment reductions over time. Conclusions: Abrupt reductions in international donor funding for TB may reverse recent progress toward financial risk protection and health equity in LMICs. Strategies to reduce the disruption caused by funding cuts and protect vulnerable populations are urgently needed
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