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Robust Adaptive Immunity to MPXV in Older People Who Received Childhood Vaccinia Vaccination
Get PDFMonkeypox virus (MPXV) is a zoonotic Orthopoxvirus responsible for Monkeypox (Mpox), historically associated with sporadic zoonotic transmission but increasingly characterised by sustained human-to-human spread. While vaccinia-based vaccination is known to confer cross-protection against MPXV, the durability of such immunity over a human lifetime remains incompletely characterised. Here, we assessed humoral and cellular immune responses to MPXV in octogenarians and nonagenarians vaccinated against smallpox during childhood. Twenty-three adults aged 79–94 years (median 83), who self-reported childhood vaccinia vaccination between 1925 and 1940, were recruited. MPXV-specific antibody responses were evaluated using ELISA, targeting homologous vaccinia and MPXV proteins, and live-virus neutralisation assays. Cellular immunity was assessed by IFN-γ ELISpot following stimulation with peptide pools derived from highly conserved vaccinia antigens. Responses were also obtained from younger, recently MVA–BN-vaccinated and unvaccinated control donors. All historically vaccinated participants exhibited MPXV-reactive IgG responses, with antibody binding and neutralisation levels comparable to recently vaccinated individuals. Functional neutralising activity against MPXV was detected in all donors, with ≥50% neutralisation observed in 78% of participants. Antibody concentrations correlated strongly with neutralisation capacity. T-cell responses were detectable in all historically vaccinated donors, most prominently against the major core protein A10L, although reduced magnitudes were observed in participants over 90 years of age. No MPXV-specific humoral or cellular responses were detected in unvaccinated controls. These findings demonstrate that childhood vaccinia vaccination induces durable humoral and cellular immunity against MPXV persisting for over seven decades. Historical smallpox vaccination status may therefore remain a relevant determinant of protection against Mpox
From Knowledge to Action: How Couples Navigate Plural Healthcare Systems for Infertility Care—A Qualitative Study in Ghana
Get PDFInfertility affects 10–30% of couples globally, with significant psychological and social impacts in sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility is closely tied to identity and social status. To explore how couples’ understanding of infertility causes influences their treatment-seeking behaviours and healthcare decision-making processes in Ghana, this cross-sectional qualitative study used in-depth interviews with 24 married participants (nine dyads and six individuals) experiencing current or past infertility in Greater Accra, Ghana, from August to October 2023. Data were analysed using thematic analysis with NVivo version 15. Couples demonstrated comprehensive knowledge of infertility causes spanning medical, spiritual, cultural, and lifestyle factors, although they lacked knowledge of clinical diagnostic criteria. Three main treatment pathways emerged: medical/orthodox, herbal, and spiritual interventions, pursued either sequentially or concurrently. Decision-making was influenced by internal factors (treatment effectiveness, financial constraints, and safety concerns) and external factors (family influence and peer testimonials). Four distinct navigation strategies were identified: informed notification, trial periods and evaluation, parallel relationship management, and strategic sequencing. Couples experiencing infertility are sophisticated healthcare consumers who skilfully navigate pluralistic healthcare systems through strategic decision-making. Rather than representing non-compliance, their multimodal approaches reflect rational responses to structural constraints and cultural values. Healthcare systems should recognise and accommodate these navigation strategies to improve therapeutic relationships and outcomes
The European Union and Hong Kong: foreign policy making from 1997 to 2022
No full textThis thesis offers the first comprehensive and long-term examination of the processes that have shaped the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy towards Hong Kong. Building on insights from more than 60 elite interviews and other sources, it presents a broad and detailed analysis of the EU’s approach towards the city between 1997 and 2022. In so doing, it contributes to the understanding of an important but unresearched area of EU foreign policy making. The thesis has two main aims.Firstly, it utilises the concept of Europeanisation to explore how 25 years of EU-member state interaction within the EU foreign policy framework has impacted on both levels’ respective views towards Hong Kong. Drawing on recent insights from the Europeanisation literature, it builds on the concept’s classic compartmentalisation into processes of downloading, uploading, and crossloading, and analyses whether longstanding EU-member state cooperation on Hong Kong has led to a convergence in views towards the city. It also asks whether specific member states – the UK, France, and Germany – have succeeded in transforming their domestic positions into long-term EU wide positions. The findings reveal substantial evidence of Europeanisation in its downloading and uploading forms, but limited evidence of a long-term convergence in views.Secondly, it identifies and applies the concepts of de-Europeanisation, contestation, and politicisation to explore whether the EU’s failure to develop a coherent Hong Kong policy from mid-2020 onwards should be viewed in a context of broader, systemic challenges to the EU foreign policy framework. Here, the thesis shows that while such challenges merit serious attention, this particular failure should not be viewed as one of them. Rather, it represents the continuation of a dynamic visible in the broader EU-China relationship, shaped by divergent views among member states, and above all guided by economic interests.Overall, these findings show the potential and limitations of the Europeanisation approach as a tool to uncover how constant interaction between EU institutions and member states shapes EU foreign policy, and of the de-Europeanisation approach to examine how the growing rise in conflict on foreign policy issues affect the EU’s foreign policy framework. Above all, they give support to the view that member states remain firmly in control of how the EU will evolve as a foreign policy actor and show that there are limited prospects for a truly united EU foreign policy
Anubhūtisvarūpācārya’s contribution to Advaita Vedānta with particular reference to Avidyā, Māyā, Yoga and Mokṣa
No full textThis thesis seeks to bring to light the major contribution to Advaita Vedānta of the little-known 13th century teacher of Advaita, Anubhūtisvarūpācārya to the with reference to his major works on Advaita, showing this to be far greater than previously appreciated in the scholastic world.
It explores the particular intervention ofAnubhūtisvarūpācārya in debates about the status of avidyā, māyā, yoga and mokṣa, helping to chart the development of doctrines in schools of Advaita Vedānta over time. The specific issues relevant to the argument are the two major traditions interpreting Ãdi Śaṇkara’s Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya, viz. the Bhāmatī tradition of Vācaspati Miśra and the Vivaraṇa tradition of Prakāśātma Yāti’s Pañcapādika Vivaraṇam with particular reference to the status of māyā.
The thesis argues thatAnubhūtisvarūpācārya’s distinctive contribution lies in his interpretation of the doctrines of māyā/avidyā, yoga and mokṣa, that affirm the role of meditative practice on the path to mokṣa. His views, although largely following the Vivaraṇa tradition, differ in some important respects. They effectively incorporate an advanced form of Yogic meditation into the practice of Advaita. He thereby seems to meet certain socio-historical needs of the community by crafting a theology suitable to ascetic and non-ascetic alike. He may also be responding to competing groups or pūrvapakṣins in central India in the middle of the 13th century A.D.
The thesis considers the specific concerns ofAnubhūtisvarūpācārya’s community at the time, along with an evaluation of methods (sādhana), asparśa-yoga, the use of Om and the ‘Great sentences’/ mahāvākyas like ‘This Self is Absolute’/ayam atmā brahma advocated to help one realise Total Freedom/ mokṣa.
The thesis argues that for Anubhūtisvarūpācārya the texts of revelation are a distinctive conjunction of Yogic and Advaitic ideas, which have profound implications for Advaitic realisation.
At this point in history they marked a key development in the Advaita Vedānta teaching which has profound significance right down to the present day
Digital Informal Care: The Use of Technology in Family Care. A Scoping Review
Get PDFObjectives
To map the recent literature on digital health in informal caregiving, identify commonly used technologies, their functions and impact, as well as barriers and facilitators.
Methods
We searched Medline, Web of Science, and CINAHL for randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental, observational, and qualitative studies, published in English between 2019 and 2024.
Results
110 studies were included, most of which targeted informal caregivers in dementia care and used moderately complex, consumer-facing technologies for education and caregiving support. Positive impact was reported on various outcomes such as caregiver burden, psychological wellbeing, caregiver competence, quality of life, caregiver-patient relationships, as well as care coordination and efficiency. Barriers included limited digital literacy, technical issues, low accessibility, caregiving burden, and data security concerns. Facilitators were good digital skills, social and emotional support, user-friendly designs, and perceived usefulness.
Conclusion
Digital informal care is emerging and shows promise in supporting informal caregivers by improving their wellbeing, skills, and connectedness. However, barriers and knowledge gaps remain, highlighting the need for additional research as well as more inclusive and person-centred digital informal care approaches
Give Us Our Blue Skies Back: ordinary housewives, citizen science, and mutual aid in Kitakyūshū’s ‘hidden’ anti-pollution movement of the 1950s and 1960s
Get PDFThe Give Us Our Blue Skies Back movement (1950-1969) by Tobata’s Collaborative Women’s Association was one of the earliest, longest-lived and most comprehensive environmental movements of the 1950s and 1960s, starting at a time when pollution was glorified as a corollary of growth and progress, years before environmental protection and civil rights were discussed in Japanese society.Due to the economic dependence of many families on income from the city’s heavy industries such as the national iron and steel giant, Yahata Steelworks, but also in order not to jeopardise the prosperity of the ‘industry castle town’ (kikgyō jōkamachi), which received major tax revenues from the polluting companies, Tobata’s women found themselves in a position where confrontational activism could severely impact the livelihood of the community. Basing their movement on independent scientific investigation, the women were able to reveal a detrimental impact of Tobata’s pollution on physical and mental health, as well as on the environment and the whole ecosystem. Despite being ordinary, largely uneducated housewives, Tobata’s women contributed to a better scientific understanding of pollution, especially by revealing a significant correlation between Tobata’s pollution levels and local death rates from lung and heart diseases already in 1965. Their impressive scientific studies and ‘environmental PR’ sensitised the local community, industry and government regarding the dangers of pollution by the mid-1960s, and managed to trigger a paradigm change regarding the desirability of soot and smoke.Despite having remained largely unnoticed by historians and political scientists due to the absence of open conflict, violence and demands for financial compensation amongst the Give Us Our Blues Skies Back activists, it is one of the most innovative anti-pollution movements in Japan’s high-growth years. Whilst the large majority of contemporary anti-pollution movements were aimed at protecting their members’ economic wellbeing, the activism by Tobata’s women’s associations poses an outstanding example of civil society fighting for social justice, equality, environmental protection, and a just society based on mutual aid.This thesis investigates concepts of gender, the environment, and progress in the 1950s and 1960s, and highlights the dichotomy of benefitting from Japan’s rapid growth in the 1960s whilst suffering from pollution from the very companies on which the activists’ household income depended. Combining in-depth archival research with an oral history approach, it examines the ‘everydayness’ of pollution in Tobata’s 1950s and 1960s. It investigates the psychological, physical and social responses to pollution amongst the local population, drawing on a plethora of anecdotes from personal interviews as well as from a vast array of primary sources disclosed in 2014 and 2015
Photometry and Spectroscopy of SN 2024pxl: A Luminosity Link among Type Iax Supernovae
Get PDFWe present extensive ultraviolet to optical photometric and optical to near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic follow-up observations of the nearby intermediate-luminosity (MV = −16.81 ± 0.19 mag) Type Iax supernovae (SNe Iax) 2024pxl in NGC 6384. SN 2024pxl exhibits a faster light curve than the high-luminosity members of this class, and slower than low-luminosity events. The observationally well-constrained rise time of ∼11 days and an estimated synthesized 56Ni mass of 0.03 M⊙, based on analytical modeling of the integrated spectral energy distribution light curve, are consistent with models of the weak deflagration of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf. Our optical spectral sequence of SN 2024pxl shows weak Si ii lines and spectral evolution similar to other high-luminosity SNe Iax, but also a prominent early-time C ii line, like lower-luminosity SNe Iax. The late-time optical spectrum of SN 2024pxl closely matches that of SN 2014dt, and its NIR spectral evolution aligns with that of other well-studied, high-luminosity SNe Iax. The spectral-line expansion velocities of SN 2024pxl are at the lower end of the SNe Iax velocity distribution, and the velocity distribution of iron-group elements compared to intermediate-mass elements suggests that the ejecta are mixed on large scales, as expected in pure deflagration models. SN 2024pxl exhibits characteristics intermediate between those of high-luminosity and low-luminosity SNe Iax, further establishing a link across this diverse class
Boundary-Spanning Beyond Widening Participation: Exploring Collaborative Leadership Practices in an English Schools–University Partnership
Get PDFWidening participation policy in England is increasingly collaborative. Since 2018, higher education (HE) institutions charging above the basic tuition fee limit are required to set out strategies to mitigate ‘risks to equality of opportunity’ for people from more disadvantaged backgrounds and their ability to access and progress through and from higher education’. Universities are encouraged to work with schools to implement outreach initiatives such as supporting raising attainment—stimulating prospects for strategic collaboration and leadership across organisational boundaries. While the majority of leadership studies in the educational research literature showcase individual settings or sectors, our study of a schools–university partnership investigates collaborative leadership practices across institutional and sector borders. Drawing ethnomethodological insights from rich qualitative data compiled 15 months into the partnership—comprising semi-structured interviews with school leaders and teachers, meeting observations, and researcher field notes—we present a unique school stakeholders’ perspective of a boundary-spanning partnership focused on university outreach and educational improvement. Venturing across institutional borders revealed pathways to develop more diffuse forms of coordinated action around a common goal—activating increased leadership-based collaboration and creativity among school stakeholders alongside a need for greater shared understanding to avoid potential misalignments. Facilitated by ‘knowledge brokering’ between school and university stakeholders, features of collaborative leadership manifested as a blended phenomenon—with teachers and leaders signalling pragmatic shifts in attainment-raising framing and practice. Implications for both schools and HE sectors are offered, distinctively at the intersection of school leadership and widening participation
Economic and Optimisation Modelling of Energy Storage Systems: A Review
Get PDFDemand for new solutions to emerging issues faced by the electricity generation, demand and supply industries continues to increase with the introduction of increasing proportions of variable renewable energy and changing system demands. Energy storage systems represent a key part of the solution as stakeholders attempt to move towards a ‘net zero’ system. Within research, studies into the techno-economic optimisation of varied energy storage technologies for different applications continue to play a significant role in this changing landscape. A key aspect of this research is the modelling and simulation of such systems, often with the goal of optimising their parameters for deploying in specific roles and services. This paper presents an extensive analysis of the current economic outlook for five major energy storage technologies, highlighting the significant variation in quoted costs within the literature. It presents a unique and novel perspective by considering economic and optimisation modelling from both a technology and application-centric approach. It explores the different approaches available for performing economic analysis on energy storage systems, providing a novel overview of the advantages of various approaches along with examples from the literature on how these studies are implemented. Finally, the paper explores optimisation studies, giving an in-depth explanation of different approaches used in the optimisation of energy storage systems and reviewing prominent uses within the literature. The paper concludes with a consideration of the main challenges that face the field of techno-economic energy storage studies and provides recommendations on areas that require further research
Mapping School Accessibility in Africa: High‐Resolution Spatial Analysis Uncovers Inequalities in Education Access
Get PDFEducation is a cornerstone of sustainable development, yet large disparities in access persist across and within countries—particularly in Africa, where millions remain underserved. Among several factors influencing educational participation, physical accessibility to schools (in terms of travel time) is not comprehensively understood, especially in data‐scarce contexts. This study presents 90‐m resolution maps of school accessibility in Africa, offering a detailed and systematic view of spatial variability. Leveraging advances in geospatial data and modeling, the analysis highlights substantial inequalities, especially in rural areas where many live more than a 3‐h walk from the nearest school. Comparisons with national statistics reveal substantial gaps in existing school datasets, while model validations demonstrate the results' rigor. A case study in Malawi illustrates how accessibility intersects with wealth and educational attainment, and elucidates model sensitivities. The results provide tools to inform evidence‐based planning, prioritize interventions, and advance progress toward equitable and inclusive education