A Conceptual Framework for Multi-Way Integration (MUWI) With a Focus on Residents’ Multiple Identities and Intersectionalities

Conceptual frameworks on integration have moved from one to two-way integration, focusing on all residents in integration processes. This paper advocates a conceptual framework for “multi-way integration” (MUWI), which focuses explicitly on residents’ multiple identities and intersectionality to enhance connectivity and mutual understanding between all residents. The discussion also addresses factors impacting this connectivity, including social structures, social mechanisms, artifacts, and environments. The above dimensions and interconnections are not only relevant for researching integration processes but also for developing effective integration strategies.</p

Understanding Hearing Aid Use and Non-Use in Adult Hearing Aid Recipients: A Qualitative Content Analysis

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What does it mean to be research-informed? Three perspectives from Professional Enquiry with Professional Learning Communities

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The analysis of blended and hybrid higher education system of UK top-up degree in Japan

Blended and hybrid learning has transformed education globally. Japan has extensively implemented hybrid and mixed-learning methods, which is reflected in the research. However, there is little research undertaken on UK institutions' Top-Up degree offerings in Japan. The present study evaluates the competitiveness of UK Top-Up degree programmes and highlights the benefits of choosing blended and hybrid learning methods. This study examines why participants chose a UK postgraduate diploma degree with an online Top-Up course over a Japanese MBA. In so doing, this study also assesses hybrid and mixed learning in UK Top-Up degrees. The thesis also considers future expansion, including Japanese and UK joint ventures. A pragmatic and abductive research philosophy were adopted to achieve the objectives. This selection enabled the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, facilitating insights and generalisations regarding the choice of hybrid and blended learning in UK Top-Up degrees in Japan, compared to regular Master's programmes in Japanese universities. A questionnaire-based survey was the primary data collection tool, gathering experiences, perceptions, and beliefs from students enrolled in UK Top-Up degree courses in Japan. The research findings hold significant implications for the future development of top-degree programmes in Japan. The insights obtained from the study can inform programme tailoring better to meet the preferences and needs of Japanese students, potentially fostering collaboration opportunities and increased enrolment.</p

Josephine Butler’s reconsideration of female saints: eschatological conceptions of history and the dismantling of structural evil

The Nineteenth-Century Present explores the multiple ways in which history was understood, structured, and reassessed in literary, theological, and political contexts across the nineteenth century. While the scope of the book is wide, ranging from the representations of geological time and ancient history to the writing of the recent past, and covering the work of writers from Walter Scott to G.K. Chesterton, each chapter reveals how present concerns intrude on and shape every view of history. Ultimately, the collection emphasises that issues raised regarding historicity in recent methodological debates were already concerns in the nineteenth century.</p

Differential eye movements and greater pupil size during mental scene construction in autobiographical recall

There is growing evidence supporting a role for eye movements during autobiographical recall, but their potential functionality remains unclear. We hypothesise that the oculomotor system facilitates the process of mental scene construction, in which complex scenes associated with an autobiographical event are generated and maintained during recall. To explore this, we examined spontaneous eye movements during retrieval of cued autobiographical memories. Participants’ verbal descriptions of each memory were recorded in synchronisation with their eye movements and pupil size during recall. For each memory participants described the place (details of the environment where the event took place) and the event (details of what happened). Narratives were analyzed using the Autobiographical Interview procedure, which separated internal spatial (place) and non- spatial (event, thoughts and emotion) details. Eye movements during recall of spatial details had significantly higher fixation duration and smaller saccade amplitude and peak velocity, and a higher number of consecutive unidirectional saccades, in comparison to recall of non-spatial details. Recurrence quantification analysis indicated longer sequences of refixations and more repetitions of the same fixation pattern when participants described spatial details. Recall of spatial details was also associated with significantly greater pupil area. Overall findings are consistent with the spontaneous production of more structured saccade patterns and greater cognitive load during the recall of internal spatial episodic scene details in comparison to episodic non-spatial details. These results are consistent with the oculomotor system facilitating the activation and correct positioning of elements of a complex scene relative to other imagined elements during autobiographical recall.</p

Discovery of novel anti-fibrotics through phenotypic screening

Fibrosis is defined as the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) components following injury, affecting any organ in the human body. Fibrotic diseases of the vital organs (e.g. lung, heart, kidney, and liver) can be chronic, progressive, irreversible, and fatal. Although fibrotic diseases account for 45% of the mortality in the Western world, the available treatment options are limited in number, efficacy, and safety. There is a lack of progress in the development of novel anti-fibrotics, which has been attributed to a reliance on target-based screening. Phenotypic screening has been shown to be more successful in identifying first-in-class drugs compared with the target-based approach. Here we critically review the current landscape of phenotypic screening campaigns in fibrosis, evaluate their success in identifying translatable lead compounds, and highlight methodological pitfalls.</p

Microstructural Brain Changes Associated with Frailty in Older Adults: Insights from Diffusion Tensor Imaging

ObjectivesThis study investigates the relationship between frailty status and white matter integrity (WMI) in older adults, focusing on associations with frailty status.DesignA cross-sectional study.Setting and Participants125 older adults aged ≥65 years without dementia were included.MethodsA comprehensive geriatric assessment was conducted. Frailty status was evaluated by Fried Frailty criteria: unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low levels of activity, weakness, and slowness: 0 for nonfrail, 1 to 2 for prefrail, and 3 to 5 for frail. Brain magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed, and mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity values were calculated in white matter integrity using a region of interest–based method. Multinomial logistic regression analyzed the multivariate effects of clinical variables on the frailty-WMI association, whereas canonical correlation analysis examined multivariate relationships between diffusion tensor imaging measurements and geriatric assessment parameters.ResultsThe mean age was 81.76 ± 7.07 years, and 64% were female. Of the participants, 55.2% were frail, 33.6% prefrail, and 11.2% nonfrail. After adjusting for age and sex, WMI impairment varied in the cingulum, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and forceps major in the left hemisphere among frailty statuses. Regression analysis showed demyelination of the left cingulum [odds ratio (OR) 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.99] and left forceps major (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-0.99) was linked to increased frailty risk. For the frail group, DTI variables and malnutrition were significant. An increase in malnutrition status or risk raised the risk of frailty by 18.86 times. Canonical correlation analysis identified the Lawton-Brody IADL and Epworth Sleepiness Scale scores as the strongest predictors, whereas the cingulum showed the highest association among white matter tracts.Conclusions and ImplicationsFrailty and prefrailty were associated with deteriorated WMI, particularly in the left cingulum and left forceps major. The strong link between frailty and WMI may reflect shared underlying mechanisms, including sleep, functionality, and nutrition. Therefore, a multidimensional approach to frailty is important.</p

Unclean cooking fuel use and sleep problems among adults aged 65 years and older from six countries

We investigated the association between unclean cooking fuel use and sleep problems in a nationally representative sample of adults aged ≥65 years from six low- and middle-income countries (China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa). Cross-sectional, community-based data from the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) were analyzed. Unclean cooking fuel referred to kerosene/paraffin, coal/charcoal, wood, agriculture/crop, animal dung, and shrubs/grass. Outcomes related to sleep included self-reported nocturnal sleep problems, lethargy, poor sleep quality, and sleep duration. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted. Data on 14585 individuals aged ≥65 years were analyzed [mean (SD) age 72.6 (11.5) years; 55.0% females]. After adjustment for potential confounders, unclean cooking fuel use was associated with a significant 1.51 (95%CI=1.03-2.22) times higher odds for nocturnal sleep problems, while it was also associated with 1.64 (95%CI=1.20-2.26) times higher odds for long sleep duration (i.e., >9 h vs. >6 to 9 h) but not with other sleep-related outcomes. These findings suggest that the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7, which advocates affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all, may also have a positive impact on sleep problems, as well as a plethora of other health and environmental impacts.</p

^hInGeTox: a human-based in vitro platform to evaluate lentivirus/host interactions that contribute to genotoxicity

Lentivirus vectors are effective for treatment of genetic disease. However, safety associated with vector related genotoxicity is of concern and currently available models are not reliably predictive of safety in humans. We have developed hInGeTox as the first human in vitro platform that uses induced pluripotent stem cells and their hepatocyte like cell derivatives to better understand vector-host interactions that relate vectors to their potential genotoxicity. Using lentiviral vectors carrying the eGFP expression cassette under SFFV promoter activity, that only differ by their LTR and SIN configuration, we characterised vector host interactions potentially implicated in genotoxicity. To do this, lentiviral infected cells were subjected to an array of assays and data from these was used for multi-omics analyses of vector effects on cells at early and late harvest time points. Data on the integration sites of lentiviral vectors in cancer genes and differential expression levels of these genes, showed that both vector configurations are capable of activating cancer genes. Through IS tracking in bulk infected cell populations, we also saw an increase in the viral sequence count in cancer genes present over time which were differentially regulated. RNASeq also showed each vector had potential to generate fusion transcripts with the human genome suggestive of gene splicing or vector mediated readthrough from the internal SFFV promoter. Initially, after infection, both vector configurations were associated with differential expression of genes associated cytokine production, however, after culturing over time there were differences in differential expression in cells infected by each LV. This was marked in particular by the expression of genes involved in the response to DNA damage in cells transduced by the SIN vector, suggesting effects likely to prevent tumour development, in contrast to the expression of genes involved in methylation, characteristic of tumour development, in cells transduced by the LTR vector. Both sets of lentiviral infected cells were also found associated with differential expression of MECOM and LMO2 genes known to be associated with clonal dominance, supporting their potential genotoxicity. Alignment of transcriptomic signatures from iPSC and HLC infected cultures with known cancer gene signatures showed the LTR vector with a higher cancer score than the SIN vector over time in iPSC and also in HLC, which further suggests higher genotoxic potential by the LTR configuration lentivirus. By application of hInGeTox to cells infected with LV at the pre-clinical stage of development, we hope that hInGeTox can act as a useful pre-clinical tool to identify lentivirus-host interactions that may be considered contributory to genotoxicity to improve safer lentiviral vector design for gene therapy.</p