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Keywords voted on by expert panel
No full textTo identify suitable keywords relating to the interpretative frame of the 'emergency imaginary', the lead author conducted a content analysis of Craig Calhoun's work on the subject. She drew up a list of most frequently mentioned words relating to three key aspects of this interpretative frame: the definition of problem (listed in Table 1), the imperative to act swiftly (listed in Table 2) and the recommended treatment to address the problem (listed in Table 3). Next, we approached five experts, who have published extensively on humanitarian communication (Lilie Chouliaraki, Glenda Cooper, Simon Cottle, Jonathan Corpus Ong, and Matthew Powers). We asked these scholars to select and rank the words from each list that they thought were most relevant for each dimension of the emergency imaginary .This took place in 2022. The keywords chosen by the panel in relation to each dimension were: ? The problem: "crisis", "disaster" ? The imperative to act swiftly: "now", "sudden", "urgent". ? Recommended treatment: "help", "rescue", "save". These keywords were then used to engage in a la carte (ALC) word embedding. Specifically, we generated country-level estimates of closeness between the word "humanitarian*" and the different dimensions of the emergency imaginary. For each dimension, we computed how "close" (measured in cosine similarity) the keywords were to the word "humanitarian*.
Protocols for generating the Mouse Atlas 3D volumetric models from mouse embryos
No full textSet of protocols used to build the 3D volumetric Mouse Atlas Embryo models. This is a download of the protocols pages of the Mouse Atlas website plus a version created in word with the same material
Divergent actions of physiological and pathological amyloid-β on synapses in live human brain slice cultures
No full textIn Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau pathology are thought to drive synapse loss. However, there is limited information on how endogenous levels of tau, Aβ and other biomarkers relate to patient characteristics, or how manipulating physiological levels of Aβ impacts synapses in living adult, human brain. Using live human brain slice cultures, we report that Aβ1-40 and tau release levels vary with donor age and brain region, respectively. Release of other biomarkers such as KLK-6, NCAM-1, and Neurogranin vary between brain region, while TDP-43 and NCAM-1 release is impacted by sex. Pharmacological manipulation of Aβ in either direction results in a loss of synaptophysin puncta, with increased physiological Aβ triggering potentially compensatory synaptic transcript changes. In contrast, treatment with Aβ-containing Alzheimer’s disease brain extract results in postsynaptic Aβ uptake and presynaptic puncta loss without affecting synaptic transcripts. These data reveal distinct effects of physiological and pathological Aβ on synapses in human brain tissue
Cultural studies, geography, and the mediation of disasters:Reflections on Burgess and Gold 40 years on
Get PDFThis forum to revisit a landmark edited collection serves as an important reminder to geographers that media and popular culture have been central to geographical scholarship for at least four decades. The book’s contributions underscore the significance of popular media for research in geography and the centrality of geographical considerations and concerns for the analysis of media texts, production and consumption practices. Communication can only occur across and indeed creates space, the locations of media production and consumption saturate contemporary everyday life, the mediation of places is both constitutive of their meaningfulness and a site of its ongoing contestation, and engagement with media offers important insights for many forms of geographical enquiry, including the study of development; racial, national, regional and domestic imaginaries; urban placemaking and change; and hazard and disaster management. In this article we take up two key issues raised by the volume in question that connect with our own work and with the wider geographical study of media. The first is the relationship between geography and cultural studies discussed by Burgess and Gold in their introductory chapter. The second concerns representations of disaster in media, which are explored in Liverman and Sherman’s contribution to the collection
Preclinical evaluation of candidate "kill or cure" strategies to treat MFN2-related lipodystrophy
Get PDFBACKGROUND: The mitofusin 2 (MFN2) R707W mutation causes debilitating human lipodystrophy featuring lower body adipose loss, upper body adipose hyperplasia, and dyslipidaemic insulin resistance. Mechanical complications include airway compromise due to head and neck adipose overgrowth. This condition, sometimes called Multiple Symmetrical Lipomatosis (MSL), is also seen in sporadic form strongly associated with excess ethanol consumption. Mitigating the cellular pathology, or, conversely, exacerbating it, inducing selective death of affected adipocytes, are potential therapeutic strategies.METHODS: Candidate exacerbating and mitigating approaches to MFN2-MSL were tested in human MFN2 R707W/R707W fibroblasts, and in Mfn2 R707W/R707W mice and derived preadipocytes. Cell survival, mitochondrial network morphology and integrated stress response markers were assessed in cells, and body composition and metabolic indices in mice. RESULTS: Forcing galactose metabolism in human MFN2 R707W/R707W dermal fibroblasts did not replicate the overt adipose mitochondrial phenotype. 50mmol ethanol had little effect on Mfn2 R707W/R707W white preadipocytes, but increased mitochondrial content and blunted mitolysosome formation in Mfn2 R707W/R707W brown preadipocytes. 20% EtOH consumption increased brown adipose tissue in female Mfn2 R707W/R707W mice, and serum lactate in males. Rapamycin - a candidate mitigating treatment - increased size and mitolysosome content of WT preadipocytes, and to a lesser degree of Mfn2 R707W/R707W preadipocytes. In male Mfn2 R707W/R707W mice, rapamycin reduced weight gain, brown adipose mass, and increased serum Fgf21. Finally, a panel of mitochondrial stressors solicited no selective death or ISR in Mfn2 R707W/R707W preadipocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Ethanol mildly exacerbates murine MFN2-related MSL, while rapamycin is tolerated. MFN2-related MSL may not be solely attributable to compromised oxidative phosphorylation.</p
Assessing the spatial pattern and temporal stability of violence in Scotland. A data linkage study using ambulance data
Get PDFThe Microbial Factor in Subsurface Hydrogen Behavior: Implications for Wettability and Interfacial Dynamics
Get PDFMicrobial activity plays a significant role in subsurface hydrogen behavior, with implications for underground storage and natural hydrogen systems. This study examines how microbial processes influence the wettability and solid–liquid interfacial characteristics of key subsurface minerals, calcite, dolomite, quartz, and gypsum, in hydrogen-brine-rock systems under realistic subsurface conditions. Wettability directly affects hydrogen distribution, flow dynamics, and trapping, making it a critical factor for both storage and natural recovery applications. Experiments were conducted under high-pressure, high-temperature conditions, with SEM/EDS analysis used to characterize interfacial modifications and mineral surface changes across three scenarios: clean, organic acid-aged, and microbial-aged. Microbial aging consistently increased mineral hydrophilicity, reducing advancing contact angles, such as from 57° (clean) to 40° (microbial-aged) on calcite at 50 °C and 8 MPa. Similar trends were observed for dolomite, with smaller changes for quartz and gypsum. Microbial biofilms were most prominent on calcite and dolomite surfaces, accompanied by decreases in brine pH (e.g., from 7.4 to 5.2 for calcite). These results reveal how microbial processes reshape mineral properties and hydrogen behavior in the subsurface. This study provides critical insights into microbial-mineral interactions, offering valuable guidance for optimizing hydrogen storage and natural hydrogen recovery systems
Simple maternal effect animal models may provide biased estimates of additive genetic and maternal variation
Get PDFMaternal effects (the consistent effect of a mother on her offspring) can inflate estimates of additive genetic variation (VA) if not properly accounted for. As they are typically assumed to cause similarities only among maternal siblings, they are often accounted for by modelling maternal identity effects. However, if maternal effects have a genetic basis, they create additional similarities among relatives with related mothers that are not captured by maternal identity effects. Unmodelled maternal genetic variance (VM g) may therefore still inflate VA estimates in common quantitative genetic models, which is underappreciated in the literature. Using published data and simulations, we explore the extent of this problem. Published estimates from eight species suggest that a large proportion of total maternal variation (VM) is genetic (∼65%). Both these data and simulations confirmed that unmodelled VM g can cause overestimation of VA and underestimation of VM, the bias increasing with the proportion of non-sibling maternal relatives in a pedigree. Simulations show these biases are further influenced by the size and direction of any direct-maternal genetic covariance. The estimation of total additive genetic variation (VAt ; the weighted sum of VA and VM g) is additionally affected, limiting inferences about evolutionary potential from simple maternal effect models. Unbiased estimates require modelling VM g explicitly, but these models are often avoided due to perceived data limitations. We demonstrate that estimating VM g is possible even with small pedigrees, reducing bias in VA estimates and maintaining accuracy in estimates of VA, VM, and VAt . We therefore advocate for the broader use of these models
Transcending measurement:What matters when making-with-music for equitable wellbeing in health and social care systems
Get PDFResearch has long supported the use of and engagement with music as a catalyst for health and wellbeing. However, there is a lack of research exploring how the structures, rituals and ‘minor gestures’ that go alongside music-making, making-with the materiality of music and engagement, can positively impact health. Using assemblages of interconnected community music projects in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, as collective ethnographic entry points, we examine how collective routines and communal activities—through the interplay of material-discursive practices that play out in structural elements, memories, and shared experiences—contribute to the creation of meaningful social exchanges, stability, sense of belonging and becoming. We argue that the benefits of music ‘interventions’ are not solely outcomes from isolated activities, but from the accumulative habits and rituals they affect, offering a new perspective on health as a dynamic process. This reframing invites a transcending of measurement in relation to the impact of music on individual and social wellbeing. Through this, we challenge traditional, conventional wellbeing scales and measures and call for a broader understanding of music’s potential in addressing health inequalities, concluding with implications for scalable community music models that contribute to expanding possibilities for research–practice–policy partnerships in health and social care systems
Transforming the gendered landscape of outdoor and environmental education:A profession in search of its own maturity
Get PDFIn 2000, Humberstone emphasised the ‘ignorance’ of the ‘outdoor industry’s’ attention to gendered experiences and the negative impact of masculine hegemony. Since then, articles attending to gendered experiences have increased exponentially, with a focus on sharing women’s experiences of outdoor education. Specifically, research attending to hegemonic masculinity confirms the slow progression, if at all, we are making as a profession. Through content analysis of existing research and a small-scale narrative inquiry of experiences of adversity in Outdoor and Environmental Education, this paper emphasises the importance of responding to gendered experiences of adversity as transformational learning and recognising the role of personal responsibility and accountability through the development of skills, strategies, and passion. We offer practical recommendations for all genders to reconsider practices for personal and institutional change.</p
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