Phl p 5 levels more strongly associated than grass pollen counts with allergic respiratory health

Background: Studies have linked daily pollen counts to respiratory allergic health outcomes, but few have considered allergen levels. Objective: We sought to assess associations of grass pollen counts and grass allergen levels (Phl p 5) with respiratory allergic health symptoms in a panel of 93 adults with moderate-severe allergic rhinitis and daily asthma hospital admissions in London, United Kingdom. Methods: Daily symptom and medication scores were collected from adult participants in an allergy clinical trial. Daily counts of asthma hospital admissions in the London general population were obtained from Hospital Episode Statistics data. Daily grass pollen counts were measured using a volumetric air sampler, and novel Phl p 5 levels were measured using a ChemVol High Volume Cascade Impactor and ELISA analyses (May through August). Associations between the 2 pollen variables and daily health scores (dichotomized based on within-person 75th percentiles) were assessed using generalized estimating equation logistic models and with asthma hospital admissions using Poisson regression models. Results: Daily pollen counts and Phl p 5 levels were each positively associated with reporting a high combined symptom and medication health score in separate models. However, in mutually adjusted models including terms for both pollen counts and Phl p 5 levels, associations remained for Phl p 5 levels (odds ratio [95% CI]: 1.18 [1.12, 1.24]), but were heavily attenuated for pollen counts (odds ratio [95% CI]: 1.00 [0.93, 1.07]). Similar trends were not observed for asthma hospital admissions in London. Conclusions: Grass allergen (Phl p 5) levels are more consistently associated with allergic respiratory symptoms than grass pollen counts

Incentives war: the consequences of announcing a substitution policy on coca cultivation in Colombia

How do alternative development programs, designed to diminish the presence of illicit crops, might cause unexpected consequences? This article studies how the announcement about an alternative development program, following the signing of the peace agreement in Colombia, resulted in an increase in coca cultivation. Employing a difference-in-differences methodology, this document evaluates the impact of the National Comprehensive Plan for the Substitution of Illicit Crops (PNIS – for its acronyms in Spanish) on the incentives to cultivate coca crops. Our empirical findings show that the announcement of this program led to a substantial average increase of 791 ha of illicit crops per municipality. This increment equates to 40,341 additional hectares, constituting approximately 53% of the overall surge in illicit crop cultivation during the year following the program’s announcement. In our exploration of underlying mechanisms, we discuss the interplay of economic incentives for both coca and non-coca cultivators and the electoral motivations of the FARC political party

Indentured: benefit deductions, debt recovery and welfare disciplining

The UK social security system performs an important role as a creditor and debt collector for many benefit claimants, with more affected by deductions than formal welfare conditionality or sanctions. Deductions, then, are central to understanding low-income life in the UK. With that in mind, this paper draws on a mixed-methods project to explore the policy rationale, administration and effects of benefit deductions at a particular moment of crisis. Through new analysis of statistical releases, I evidence increasing indebtedness and an Inverse Care Law, whereby UK social security performs worst for those who need it most. Drawing on qualitative longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork conducted at the height of the cost-of-living crisis, I also evidence how deductions affect the lives and trajectories of low-income claimants over time. The analysis offered details how deductions weaponize debt, often in ways that financialise benefit claimants and their entitlements that prove counter-productive to the stated policy objectives of deductions: worsening the poverty-debt trap and pushing people (further) away from the labour market

Friction in the Netflix machine: how screen workers interact with streaming data

Data-driven streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have expanded into the European screen landscape with a significant appetite for locally produced content. These players leverage advanced data analytics to gain deep customer insights, but they prefer to keep a lid on their algorithmic operations. This article examines how screen workers interact with streaming data despite widespread secrecy. Drawing on interviews and an interface ethnography, I explore the ways these workers access, sense, generate and resist streaming data throughout their creative process. As such, the article provides a framework for understanding the subtle and sometimes contradictory ways that screen workers engage with such data practices. I also demonstrate how researchers can circumvent and lower barriers to access in an industry marked by data secrecy. As a result, this article contributes to discussions about the datafication of cultural production, and it does so with novel insights from the European screen context

Pragmatism and methodology: doing research that matters with mixed methods

DescriptionContentsResourcesCoursesAbout the Authors Taking a pragmatist approach to methods and methodology that fosters meaningful, impactful, and ethical research, this book rises to the challenge of today's data revolution. It shows how pragmatism can turn challenges, such as the abundance and accumulation of big qualitative data, into opportunities. The authors summarize the pragmatist approach to different aspects of research, from epistemology, theory, and questions to ethics, as well as data collection and analysis. The chapters outline and document a new type of mixed methods design called 'multi-resolution research,” which serves to overcome old divides between quantitative and qualitative methods. It is the ideal resource for students and researchers within the social and behavioural sciences seeking new ways to analyze large sets of qualitative data. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

The speculative consequences of the peace

Keynes began actively trading in currencies almost as soon as he had published The Economic Consequences. Despite the advantages of being the leading economic thinker of his generation and possessing an enviable network of contacts with policymakers, his speculation met with mixed results. This chapter examines two issues: first, the influence which Keynes’ understanding of the post-war international economic and political situation had on his foreign exchange speculation strategy; and, second, the influence his experience as a speculator had on his political-economic theory in the years following the publication of his book

Impacts of climate litigation on firm value

Communities and individuals are turning to courts to hold governments and high-emitting firms to account for the adverse consequences of climate change. Such litigation is part of a broader trend where stakeholders are increasingly scrutinizing firms for their sustainability practices. For firms, rising climate litigation risk may exacerbate wider sustainability risks. Here, we construct a comprehensive database of filings and decisions relating to 108 climate lawsuits against US and European-listed firms between 2005–2021. We show that firms experience, on average, a -0.41% fall in stock returns following a climate-related filing or an unfavourable court decision. Cases filed against Carbon Majors, primarily the world’s largest fossil fuel producers, saw the largest stock market responses, with returns reducing by -0.57% and -1.50% following filings and unfavourable decisions, respectively. Markets respond more to “novel” climate litigation involving new legal arguments or jurisdictions. Our findings suggest that climate litigation provides a way for stakeholders to challenge actual and perceived weaknesses in the sustainability practices of firms. We conclude that financial markets consider such litigation to be a relevant financial risk

How to tame your hormones: menopause rage in media discourse

While feminist scholarship has challenged earlier misogynist discourses around menopause, menopause continues to be associated with women’s rage. Focusing on UK news and advice websites (2018-2024), we ask if and how this association is figured in contemporary cultural representations and what cultural and political work it performs. We situate our examination within three converging contexts: 1) the unleashing of public displays of women’s rage in Anglophone media in the wake of the #MeToo movement; 2) the changing cultural terrain of ageing women and their growing influence in public life; and 3) the rising visibility of the menopause in the UK. We identify four distinct patterns: 1) construction of rage as a natural and biological symptom of the hormonally imbalanced ageing female body; 2) bundling of rage with other symptoms associated with menopause; 3) repudiation of menopausal women’s rage; and 4) positioning of menopausal women as responsible for managing their rage. These patterns render menopausal women’s rage visible while simultaneously disavowing and obscuring its legitimacy as an apt response to gender injustice. The analysis shows how menopausal women’s apt rage over gender and racial injustice is being depoliticized and reduced to hormone-induced behaviour that ageing women are exhorted to self-manage