179566 research outputs found
Sort by
Continuity and Change (con): Social class differentials in infant mortality, Ipswich 1871-1909
Get PDFClass differentials in infant mortality were first established for England and Wales following analysis of answers given to the 1911 census. While estimates of these differentials have been made for earlier periods using indirect methods, for the first time this article provides class-specific infant mortality rates based on births and infant deaths in a large English town. Using information provided in Ipswich’s smallpox vaccination registers for the period 1871–1909, a class gradient in infant mortality is shown to have developed in the town from the early 1880s onwards, particularly in the post-neonatal period. Aspects of the class differentials are then examined, including specific causes of death, housing and childcare practices
Mitochondrial dysfunction and mitophagy blockade contribute to renal osteodystrophy in chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder:Mitochondrial dysfunction in renal osteodystrophy
Get PDFChronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) presents with extra-skeletal calcification and renal osteodystrophy (ROD). However, the pathophysiology of ROD remains unclear. Here we examine the hypothesis that stalled mitophagy within osteocytes of CKD-MBD mouse models contributes to bone loss. RNA-seq analysis revealed an altered expression of genes associated with mitophagy and mitochondrial function in tibia of CKD-MBD mice. The expression of mitophagy regulators, p62/SQSTM1, ATG7 and LC3, was inconsistent with functional mitophagy, and in mito-QC reporter mice with ROD, there was a two- to three-fold increase in osteocyte mitolysosomes. To determine if uremic toxins were potentially responsible for these observations, treatment of cultured osteoblasts with uremic toxins revealed increased mitolysosome number and mitochondria with distorted morphology. Membrane potential and oxidative phosphorylation were also decreased, and oxygen-free radical production increased. The altered p62/SQSTM1 and LC3-II expression was consistent with impaired mitophagy machinery, and the effects of uremic toxins were reversible by rapamycin. A causal link between uremic toxins and the development of mitochondrial abnormalities and ROD was established by showing that a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant (MitoQ) and the charcoal adsorbent AST-120 were able to mitigate the uremic toxin-induced mitochondrial changes and improve bone health. Overall, our study shows that impaired clearance of damaged mitochondria may contribute to the ROD phenotype. Targeting uremic toxins, oxygen-free radical production and the mitophagy process may offer novel routes for intervention to preserve bone health in patients with CKD-MBD. This would be timely as our current armamentarium of anti-fracture medications for patients with severe CKD-MBD is limited.</p
Algorithmic governance of 'terrorism' and 'violent extremism' online
Get PDFGlobal security risks are increasingly countered through complex data infrastructures involving forms of algorithmic governance, automated decision-making and data-driven, public-private co-regulation. This paper explores the challenges these security infrastructures pose by following a key regulatory device in the global governance of ‘terrorist and violent extremist content’ (or TVEC) online: the hash-sharing database of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). By drawing on interviews with platform counterterrorism experts and closely examining the materiality of hash-sharing practice, this infrastructure is analysed as an emergent sociotechnical assemblage for countering ‘TVEC’ that is generating far-reaching effects. The paper shows how it is reconfiguring legal and security governance practices, forging novel forms of power and material agency, and generating distinctive algorithmic ordering techniques and ‘infra-legal’ dynamics that conventional law and technology research has not yet adequately explored. Grappling with these effects requires foregrounding material processes, decentring law and being empirically attentive to how law and data infrastructure are enmeshed and co-evolve in practice. The paper suggests new possibilities for the sociolegal study of global algorithmic infrastructures in action
What does it mean to conduct ethical research after disasters? A case study of the 3.11 disaster
Get PDFThe 3.11 disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, is a useful case study through which to interrogate research ethics. This region has been the site of a high degree of research interest, which sometimes presented a source of stress to local communities. This study examines researcher perspectives on the ethics of post-disaster health research. Qualitative interviews were conducted with these informants, who noted that recovering communities experienced significant over-research, particularly in the form of survey fatigue, which was seen to influence viewpoints concerning both recovery and agency. Efforts to integrate better into community needs reoriented reflexive research towards ‘post-normal’ forms of working. Simultaneously, researchers had to navigate funding and reward structures that prioritised the swift production of results. Focusing on community engagement and feedback, and managing this ethical complexity, were seen as essential forms of ethical practice to mitigate the negative impacts that the influx of research activity can have on a recovering community
Does a small country have meaningful regional personality differences?:The case of Estonia
Get PDFBackgroundRegional differences in the Big Five personality domains have been observed in several countries at different geographical granularities, often correlating with regional political, economic, social, and health (PESH) indicators.ObjectiveWe examined the extent of regional personality differences in Estonia and whether these differences were meaningfully correlated with PESH indicators.MethodsUsing data from the Estonian Biobank (N = 72,268; 7% of the adult population, providing unprecedented representativeness), we tested regional personality differences and their relations with PESH indicators with and without spatial smoothing.ResultsWe found that regional Big Five scores varied by 1.19 (extraversion) to 2.78 (openness) T-score units across counties (N = 15) and by 2.80 (extraversion) to 4.74 (openness) units across municipalities (n = 74). Also, the correlations with the PESH indicators at the county and municipality levels persisted even after controlling for gender, age, and spatial dependency, and were moderately consistent with our predictions (r = 0.23 to 0.30) and between the county and municipality levels (r = 0.41).ConclusionsEstonian residents tended to be similar in personality traits regardless of their location, replicating results from other countries. Yet, small regional personality domain differences could represent valid and possibly consequential psychological variation
Future contingents, openness and the possibility of omniscience:Defending an argument against relativism and supervaluationism
Get PDFIn a recent paper, Patrick Todd and Brian Rabern argued that—contra both Thomason's supervaluationism and MacFarlane's relativism—an “open future” view is incompatible with the principle they call “Retro-closure”, according to which today's rain implies that yesterday it was true that it would rain a day later. In a recent piece, MacFarlane replies. This paper has two aims. First, I argue that MacFarlane's response to Todd and Rabern is unsuccessful on its own terms. Second, I attempt to clarify Todd and Rabern's overall argument, and explain how MacFarlane's replies should be construed within the overall dialectic. The intended result: if you want an “open future”, then one's best option is a modified Peirceanism (as in Todd, The Open Future); if one wants Retro-closure, one's best option is one on which there is a determinate “Thin Red Line” (a view sometimes called “Ockhamism”). However, one cannot have what supervaluationism and relativism both promise, viz., a view that preserves both
Prevalence estimates and nature of online child sexual exploitation and abuse:A systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFBackgroundOnline child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) is a global health issue. The aim of this global systematic review and meta-analysis was to better understand the prevalence and nature of OCSEA on a global scale.MethodsComprehensive literature searches were done in six UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish) and multiple databases, for records published between Jan 1, 2010, and Sept 30, 2023. Studies were evaluated independently by two different authors for inclusion according to eligibility criteria. Eligible studies included children younger than 18 years or adults retrospectively reporting OCSEA. Studies used general population samples and were representative at the national and sub-national level. Risk of bias in prevalence studies was assessed and a synthesis of the findings produced. A random-effects model was conducted for meta-analysis of studies to calculate prevalence estimates with 95% CIs for past year recall and lifetime recall of four OCSEA subtypes and overall OCSEA (from studies that measured at least three different sub-types within the same sample). This study was pre-registered with Open Science Framework (osf.io/6vux2).FindingsOf the 47 097 records derived from literature searches, 86 records reporting on 123 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Pooled mean prevalence for past year recall of OCSEA subtypes was estimated: online solicitation (12·5% [95% CI 10·5–14·7]); non-consensual taking, sharing, and exposure to sexual images and videos (12·6% [9·7–16·2]); online sexual exploitation (4·7% [2·9–7·3]); and sexual extortion (3·5% [1·9–6·4]). The mean prevalence of past-year recall for overall OCSEA was 8·1% (4·9–13·0). Heterogeneity of individual estimates was high, influenced by research design factors including the method of data collection and variability in definitions used.InterpretationHeterogeneity in prevalence estimates identified across studies and regions indicates that more research is required to draw stronger conclusions about the scale of OCSEA. However, the findings of this study are of great relevance to policy makers, practitioners, and researchers to make informed decisions about allocating resources and designing effective prevention and response programmes to protect children worldwide
Carbonyl Reductase 1: a novel regulator of blood pressure in Down Syndrome
Get PDFApproximately one in every 800 children is born with the severe aneuploid condition of Down syndrome (DS), a trisomy of chromosome 21. Low blood pressure (hypotension) is a common condition associated with DS and can have a significant impact on exercise tolerance and quality of life. Little is known about the factors driving this hypotensive phenotype, therefore therapeutic interventions are limited. Carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1) is an enzyme contributing to the metabolism of prostaglandins, glucocorticoids, reactive oxygen species and neurotransmitters, encoded by a gene (CBR1) positioned on chromosome 21 with the potential to affect blood pressure. Utilising telemetric blood pressure measurement of genetically modified mice, we tested the hypothesis that CBR1 influences blood pressure and that its overexpression contributes to hypotension in DS by evaluating possible contributing mechanisms in vitro. In a mouse model of DS (Ts65Dn), which exhibits hypotension, CBR1 activity was increased and pharmacological inhibition of CBR1 ed to increased blood pressure. Mice heterozygous null for Cbr1 had reduced CBR1 enzyme activity and elevated blood pressure. Further experiments indicate that the underlying mechanisms include alterations in both sympathetic tone and prostaglandin metabolism. We conclude that CBR1 activity contributes to blood pressure homeostasis and inhibition of CBR1 may present a novel therapeutic opportunity to correct symptomatic hypotension in DS.</p
Brentford Football Club Community Sports Trust, Community and Empowerment
Get PDFBrentford FC Community Sports Trust, Community and Empowerment is the 10th data driven report produced by the University of Edinburgh’s Academy of Sport. The reports aim to: (i) support charities, clubs and national associations to better understand their communities and their impact, (ii) use data driven innovation as well as traditional methods of data collection to inform the football industry, and (iii) support the closing of data gaps where they exist. The purpose of this research report is to provide additional insight into the work of one grassroots community football organisation, Brentford FC Community Sports Trust. Brentford FC Community Sports Trust aim to remove barriers to football and build pathways that empower individuals to fulfil their potential on and off the pitch
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Edinburgh Research Explorer? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!