We the People: An Analysis of the Supreme Court\u27s Jurisprudence Relating to Constitutional Personhood

This thesis studies the Supreme Court\u27s jurisprudence on the issue of constitutional personhood and its historical lack of clarity and uniformity. I focus on three groups of persons who historically and frequently bring claims of constitutional protection before the Court: aliens, children, and felons. Across these three classes of claimants, case analysis shows that the Court lacks a clear framework for answering questions of constitutional personhood, instead relying on an individualistic approach in their decision-making, rendering a defined understanding of constitutional personhood impossible. I argue that the Court\u27s current methods of decision- making produce inequality and second-class citizenship, and further, that it is necessary for the Supreme Court to adopt a defined approach to constitutional personhood claims moving forward. Constitutional law and the Supreme Court\u27s future decisions will become increasingly convoluted and baseless without modification to their individualized approach

We the "People": An Analysis of the Supreme Court's Jurisprudence Relating to Constitutional Personhood

This thesis studies the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on the issue of constitutional personhood and its historical lack of clarity and uniformity. I focus on three groups of persons who historically and frequently bring claims of constitutional protection before the Court: aliens, children, and felons. Across these three classes of claimants, case analysis shows that the Court lacks a clear framework for answering questions of constitutional personhood, instead relying on an individualistic approach in their decision-making, rendering a defined understanding of constitutional personhood impossible. I argue that the Court’s current methods of decision- making produce inequality and second-class citizenship, and further, that it is necessary for the Supreme Court to adopt a defined approach to constitutional personhood claims moving forward. Constitutional law and the Supreme Court’s future decisions will become increasingly convoluted and baseless without modification to their individualized approach

Analysis of Trauma Patterns and Post-Traumatic Time Interval in a Late Romano-British and Spanish Context

Fractures, one of the most common findings in paleopathology, can reveal information about behaviour and social identity in the past. A new methodology for assessing the healing stages of fractures has recently been proposed, which could allow for additional data to be gathered from the study of fractures. Trauma, post-traumatic time interval, and injury recidivism were studied in five late Roman (c. 3rd – 4th centuries AD) British and Spanish skeletal samples. The aims of this thesis are: 1) record fractures and their healing stage using new post-traumatic time interval estimation methods; 2) determine how trauma profiles vary in the Romano-British and Spanish samples; 3) employ biocultural and life course approaches in the analysis of the results to reveal information about the culture, social identities, and environmental circumstances in the two Roman provinces under study. The remains of 214 adults from two Romano-British and three Romano-Spanish sites were examined for the presence of long bone and rib fractures. Fracture data was analyzed by age, sex, site, bone element, and fracture type to build a profile of trauma at each of the sites. In addition, cases of multiple injury were assessed using new post-traumatic time interval methods in order to discern cases of injury recidivism. A total of 44 individuals were identified as having 89 fractures across all the skeletal samples. Sixteen individuals had multiple fractures, eight of which were determined to have fractures of different ages using methods for determining post-traumatic time interval. Males and females had similar rates of fractures and multiple injuries. Fractures peaked among economically active young and middle-aged adults. A number of differences between the Romano-British and Spanish sample were observed with regards to trauma patterns and fracture prevalence. The results of this research contribute to our understandings of trauma profiles and injury recidivism in Roman populations, and provide the first comprehensive trauma study of a Romano-Spanish skeletal sample.ThesisMaster of Arts (MA

Ozempic (semaglutide) versus Nonpharmacologic Interventions For Weight Management in Overweight Individuals

Ozempic (semaglutide) is a medication prescribed for individuals managing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by mimicking the action of a hormone called GLP-1, helping to regulate glucose levels by stimulating insulin secretion and reducing glucagon secretion. Many patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus rely on Ozempic (semaglutide) as a weight loss aid as opposed to implementing healthy lifestyle changes. This information proposes the question: in overweight individuals taking Ozempic (semaglutide), a medication prescribed for those with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, for the management of weight loss, does the use of Ozempic (semaglutide) compared to non-pharmacologic weight loss strategies exaggerate the occurrence of adverse effects? A literature search was conducted using CINAHL and PubMed employing the following search terms: ozempic, semaglutide, weight loss, non-pharmacologic weight loss, adverse effects, and obesity. A total of 12 articles met the inclusion criteria. The research shows that Ozempic (semaglutide) is an effective but short-term weight management aid, as most individuals regain the weight lost within one year. Though Ozempic (semaglutide) demonstrated the highest percent weight loss achieved of any anti-obesity medication (11.85%), it also results in augmented adverse effects. Commonly experienced adverse effects of Ozempic (semaglutide) include vomiting, diarrhea, hypoglycemia, cholelithiasis, tachycardia, thyroid carcinomas, reproductive complications, and stomach paralysis. Nonpharmacologic interventions like diet and exercise were found to be sustainable and have significantly fewer adverse effects, with exercise causing on average a 20% weight reduction. Based on these findings, evidence exists to support implementing nonpharmacologic strategies over Ozempic (semaglutide) for weight loss in overweight individuals

General Practitioners’ Experiences of Providing Lifestyle Advice to Patients with Depression:A Qualitative Focus Group Study

Objective: Depression is an increasingly common mental health disorder in the UK,managed predominantly in the community by GPs. Emerging evidence suggestslifestyle medicine is a key component in the management of depression. We aimed toexplore GPs’ experiences, attitudes, and challenges to providing lifestyle advice topatients with depression.Method: Focus groups were conducted virtually with UK GPs (May-July 2022). A topicguide facilitated the discussion and included questions on experiences, currentpractices, competence, challenges, and service provision. Data were analysed usingtemplate analysis.Results: ‘Supporting Effective Conversations’; ‘Willing, but Blocked from EstablishingRelational Care’; ‘Working Towards Patient Empowerment’; and ‘Control Over thePrognosis’ were all elements of how individualised lifestyle advice was key to themanagement of depression. Establishing a doctor-patient relationship by building trust and rapport was fundamental to having effective conversations about lifestylebehaviours. Empowering patients to make positive lifestyle changes required tailoringadvice using a patient-centred approach. Confidence varied across participants,depending on education, experience, type of patient, and severity of depression.Conclusions: GPs play an important role in managing depression using lifestylemedicine and a patient-centred approach. Organisational and educational changes arenecessary to facilitate GPs in providing optimal care to patients with depression

One-pot synthesis of micron-sized polybetaine particles: innovative use of supercritical carbon dioxide

Polybetaines exhibit unique properties combining anti-polyelectrolyte and low protein fouling behaviour, as well as biocompatibility. To date, the synthesis of polybetaine particles >50 nm has proved to be extremely challenging with standard emulsion and dispersion techniques being unsuccessful. Here we present the first reported synthesis of micron-sized, discrete cross-linked polybetaine particles, using polymerisation in scCO2 with methanol as a co-solvent. Discrete particles are produced only when the methanol is efficiently removed in situ using scCO2 extraction. A relatively high crosslinking agent initial concentration (10 wt%) was found to result in the most well defined particles, and particle integrity reduced as the crosslinking agent initial concentration was decreased. A monomer loading of between 3.0 × 10−2 mol L−1 and 1.8 × 10−1 mol L−1 resulted in discrete micron sized particles, with significant agglomoration occuring as the monomer loading was increased further. A spherical morphology and extremely low size dispersity was observed by SEM analysis for the optimised particles. The particles were readily re-dispersed in aqueous solution and light scattering measurements confirmed their low size dispersity

Detection and prevention of adverse drug reactions in multi-morbid older patients

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a recognised unintentional form of iatrogenic harm, which commonly occur in older adults who have high levels of multi-morbidity and associated polypharmacy. Previous studies estimate that at least one in 10 hospitalised older patients will experience an ADR. While recent research indicates that this could be as high as 39% in hospitalised multi-morbid, older adults, up to two-thirds of these ADRs can be considered preventable and therefore potentially avoidable. In addition to increasing patient morbidity and contributing to avoidable mortality, there is an associated cost implication with ADR occurrence. This commentary summarises current mainstream research in terms of ADR detection, prediction and prevention in multi-morbid older patients. At present, the biggest barrier to understanding and comparing ADRs in the literature is the large heterogeneity that exists in the population and study methods. Furthermore, there is the lack of standardised universally accepted methodology for ADR prediction, detection, causality assessment and subsequent prevention in older people. Standard available methods of ADR prediction applied to a heterogeneous multi-morbid population are generally unsatisfactory. Without an instrument that consistently and reliably predicts ADR risk in a reproducible manner, ADR prevention in multi-morbid older patients is challenging. Further attention should be focused on the culprit drugs that commonly lead to major ADRs in older multi-morbid hospitalised patients with polypharmacy. Risk associated with particular drug classes may possibly predict ADR occurrence better than patient characteristics alone. Current research is examining this drug class focus for ADR prevention in multi-morbid older people

Antigen and checkpoint receptor engagement recalibrates T cell receptor signal strength

How T cell receptor (TCR) signal strength modulates T cell function and to what extent this is modified by immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) are key questions in immunology. Using Nr4a3-Tocky mice, we characterized early quantitative and qualitative changes that occur in CD4 + T cells in relation to TCR signaling strength. We captured how dose- and time-dependent programming of distinct co-inhibitory receptors rapidly recalibrates T cell activation thresholds and visualized the immediate effects of ICB on T cell re-activation. Our findings reveal that anti-PD1 immunotherapy leads to an increased TCR signal strength. We defined a strong TCR signal metric of five genes upregulated by anti-PD1 in T cells (TCR.strong), which was superior to a canonical T cell activation gene signature in stratifying melanoma patient outcomes to anti-PD1 therapy. Our study therefore reveals how analysis of TCR signal strength—and its manipulation—can provide powerful metrics for monitoring outcomes to immunotherapy. </p

The contamination of in situ archaeological remains: a pilot analysis of microplastics in sediment samples using μFTIR

Background. Microplastics (MPs) are found in all environments: aquatic, airborne, and terrestrial. While their presence is not disputed, their potential impacts are not yet known.Objective. To undertake a pilot analysis of MP contamination in archaeological sediment samples, taken in the late 1980s from two archaeological excavation sites in the historic city of York (UK) as well as contemporary sources close to the same sites, with respect to the presence (if any), levels, and characteristics of any particles identified. Methods. This study analysed pre-digested sediment samples as follows: n=3 from Queens Hotel (QH) site and n=3 Wellington Row (WR) contemporary core-source, and n=3 QH and n=3 WR archival-source samples, alongside procedural controls (n=8), using μFTIR spectroscopy (size limitation of 5 μm) to detect and characterise any MPs present. Results. In total, 66 MP particles consisting of 16 MP polymer types were identified across both site and contemporary/archived samples. The highest levels of MP particles, 20588 MP/kg was identified at the lowest sample depth (~7.35 m) at archived WR, 5910 MP/kg in the mid depth layer (~5.85 m) at the contemporary QH site. Of the MPs detected in sediment samples overall, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polybutylene sulfone (PSU), and polypropylene: polyethylene (PE:PP) copolymer polymer types were most abundant; mainly fragmented and irregular shape. Conclusions. This is believed to be the first evidence of MP contamination in archaeological sediment (or soil) samples with polymers and size ranges measured and while accounting for procedural blanks. These results support the phenomenon of transport of MPs within archaeological stratigraphy, and the characterisation of types, shapes and size ranges identified therein. Through contamination, MPs may compromise the scientific value of archaeological deposits, and environmental proxies suspended within significant sediment, and as such represent a new consideration in the dynamism of, as well as arguments for preserving, archaeological deposits in situ