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Interpreting moments of housing precarity along migrants’ biographies: the case of Romanians residing in post-Brexit Britain
No full textPrecarity, a now established concept and an increasingly prevalent life condi-tion, has been usefully employed to scrutinise mostly the non-housing chal-lenges faced by migrants, particularly of the vulnerable. Acknowledging thatmigrants are a heterogeneous group and that precarity both shapes and isshaped by housing experiences, this paper takes the case of the privilegedintra-EU free-movement context to offer a dynamic perspective on the fluctu-ating nature of housing precarity. Given that individuals engage with housingin complex, multifaceted, and often transnational ways, this paper adopts abiographical approach within photoelicitation interviews to explore howRomanian migrants’ housing experiences in the UK evolve over time. The anal-ysis reveals how migrants encounter, resist, navigate and confront ‘moments’ ofinadequate housing and precarious homes. The conceptual addition of‘moments’ to the already rich vocabulary of precarity highlights migrants’ rela-tional agency in managing periods of brief or prolonged, heavier or haziervulnerability as they strive to make life liveable and nurture their self throughexposure to others. As people can fall in and out of precarity at short notice,the paper calls for a more agile policy landscape that delivers residents’ agency,choice and support at the right time
From federation to external constraint: Europe in the Italian constitutional imagination
No full textNo abstract available
Interferon dependent immune memory during HSV-1 neuronal latency via increased H3K9me3 and restriction by ATRX
Get PDFHerpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) establishes a latent infection in neurons, periodically reactivating to cause disease. Neuronal conditions, including immune signaling, during initial HSV-1 infection, impact later reactivation. Type I interferon (IFNα) exposure during initial infection results in promyelocytic leukemia nuclear-body (PML-NB) formation and subsequent restriction of reactivation, via mechanisms that were unknown. Here we find that PML-NB formation results in the recruitment of histone chaperones to the viral genome and increased enrichment of the repressive heterochromatin mark, histone H3 lysine 9 tri-methylation (H3K9me3), and its reader, ATRX (alpha-thalassemia/mental retardation, X-linked). ATRX is highly abundant in neurons and prevents reactivation from H3K9me3-bound latent genomes by remaining associated with viral chromatin. Therefore, we demonstrate how immune signaling during initial infection results in an epigenetic memory on HSV-1 genomes and identify ATRX as a neuronal restriction factor against HSV-1 reactivation, elucidating a new potential target for inhibiting HSV-1 reactivation and subsequent human disease
Do the effects of krill oil supplementation on skeletal muscle function and size in older adults differ by sex, age or BMI: a secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial
Get PDFThis study examined whether the effects of krill oil supplementation on muscle function and size differ by sex, age or BMI in healthy older adults. This was a secondary exploratory analysis of a previous randomised controlled trial. Men and women aged ≥65 years, with BMI < 35 kg/m² and engaging in <1 h per week of structured exercise, were enrolled in a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial (NCT04048096) between March 2018 and March 2020. Participants received either 4 g/day krill oil or a control oil for 6 months. Ninety-four participants were included (Control n = 45; 27 women, 18 men; Krill n = 49; 26 women, 23 men) with muscle size, strength and neuromuscular function measured before and after the intervention period. Responses to intervention were compared between subgroups by sex (male/female), age (≤70 years/>70 years) and BMI (≤24.9 kg/m2/>25 kg/m2). Increases in muscle strength, size, and physical function in response to krill oil supplementation were comparable across age, sex and BMI subgroups (all P > 0.05). This was similar for neuromuscular measures although increases in the Mwave the response to krill oil supplementation differed by sex, with no change over time in females in either krill or control groups, but an increase in Mwave in males in the krill group (+3.80 [1.72–5.88] mV, p = 0.016) with a tendency for a decrease in the control group (−3.71 [1.58–6.05] mV, p = 0.059). In conclusion, krill oil supplementation improved muscle strength and size in older adults regardless of age, sex and BMI status, although neuromuscular effects of krill oil on membrane excitability, via the Mwave, may be more pronounced in men.
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0404809
Investors are (not) always right: a comparison of transaction-based and profitability-based metrics for financial asset recommendation
No full textThe use of recommender systems to assist in the provision of financial asset and portfolio recommendations to investors is increasing, spanning a wide range of algorithms and techniques. Several strategies
have been devised for the evaluation of financial asset recommendations, with the two most prominent
perspectives measuring, respectively, (a) the money customers could obtain if they followed the recommendations (profitability-based evaluation) and (b) the ability of models to predict future customer investments
(transaction-based evaluation). If customers are effective investors, we would expect these two perspectives to
be positively correlated. In this article, we explore the actual relationship between these two families of metrics.
Theoretically, we prove that these perspectives are independent. Furthermore, we perform experiments over a
large-scale financial recommendation dataset with real customer investment transactions. Surprisingly, we
find that transaction and profitability-based metrics are, in fact, negatively correlated. Moreover, algorithms
that actively learn from past customer transactions might lose money in the mid-term. A thorough analysis of
model performance and customer transaction patterns over time shows that this is due to customers failing
to consistently beat the market with their investments, with time appearing as an important confounding
variable—since the point of time where recommendations are provided and the investment horizon largely
affect the customer’s investment performance
Effective self-directed learning and performance perception: insights from the United Kingdom National Undergraduate neuroanatomy competition
Get PDFBackground:
Neuroanatomy is a cornerstone of medical education, yet is perceived by many as daunting. Student-led events, such as the National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition (NUNC), newly re-established in Scotland, provides a platform to address this challenge by fostering academic interest and enhancing learning through extracurricular achievement and specialty talks.
Methods:
This mixed-methods study analysed data from the 11th NUNC, involving 93 registered medical students. Post-event surveys collated participants’ experiences with institutional neuroanatomy education, preferred learning resources, and self-assessment of their performance in NUNC’s written and practical exams. Quantitative responses were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data provided insights into learning preferences and challenges.
Results:
Of 58 survey respondents, most reported dissatisfaction with the depth and accessibility of institutional neuroanatomy teaching. Online resources (74.1 %) and textbooks (53.4 %) were most frequently used for self-directed learning, in addition to resources provided by students’ institutions. Participants rated both the single-best-answer and spotter exams as difficult, and demonstrated accurate self-assessment of their performance, with modest but significant correlations between perceived and actual scores in both assessments (p = 0.0002).
These findings highlight a potential dichotomy between reliance on institutional teaching and students’ preferred resources, emphasising the value of supplementary, accessible, and clinically contextualised materials in the learning of future clinicians. Accuracy in self-assessment suggests that NUNC encourages reflective learning and confidence in neuroanatomy knowledge. This has positive implications for the future clinical practice of these participants as it is increasingly common for non-specialist clinicians to be first point-of-contact for neurological presentations.
Conclusion:
NUNC provides an impactful platform for addressing gaps in neuroanatomy/clinical neuroscience education, promoting self-directed learning, and inspiring confidence among students interested in careers in neuroanatomy-related fields such as neurosurgery, neurology and other neuroanatomy related fields. Future efforts should focus on integrating a broader range of learning modalities into medical curricula to improve the learning experience and establish reliable foundations for future clinical practice
The British Empire and its legacies: from slavery, criminalization and the civilizing mission to re-articulating human rights amid colonialities
No full textConversations about Arts, Humanities and Health. Episode 30 - Appliedness with Martina King
No full textCo-hosts Ian Sabroe and Dieter Declercq talk with Martina about appliedness and medical education, medical humanities and (the lack of) defined disciplinary identity, and how the medical humanities interact with multiple academic disciplines in research and teaching
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