The UK: no longer the EU’s ‘awkward partner’

Britain has long been seen as the European Union’s “awkward partner”. Yet why have we only now come to a referendum on Britain’s membership? Ben Wellings explains why it is impossible to understand the politics of EU-UK relations without understanding the politics of nationalism within the U

Between Vladivostok and Africa: Teaching European Studies in Australia.

Learning about Europe in Australia at the higher education level requires lecturers and tutors to ground their teaching in students’ pre-existing understanding of Australia’s links with Europe. This link needs to be made to students in the classroom and to university management as a case for embedding European Studies within university administrative structures. I will also argue that whilst students display a keen interest in contemporary Europe, European Studies itself is best seen as a sub-or cross-discipline, particularly of politics, history and international relations underpinned by the study of languages and it is here that ‘Europe’ has much to teach Australian university students

Are EU referendums undermining parliamentary sovereignty?

Rather than empowering the electorate, argue Ben Wellings and Emma Vines, the EU referendum measures passed by Parliament reveal the triumph of populist politics

Anglosphere cooperation given a surprise boost after the Brexit vote

As ardent Eurosceptics and ‘Anglosphere enthusiasts’ David Davis, Boris Johnson and Liam Fox take leading roles in shaping Britain’s place outside of the EU, we might expect the ‘Anglosphere’ to become increasingly prominent in British political discourse in coming months and years. Helen Baxendale and Ben Wellings foresee deeper and broader bilateral relations between English-speaking countries, yet judge that a formal Anglosphere alliance may yet remain a ‘work of political science fiction’ – even though it is no longer an obscure one

The power of the Anglosphere in Eurosceptical thought

The idea of the Anglosphere is an important element of British Euroscepticism. Ben Wellings and Helen Baxendale show that calls for unity of purpose between English-speaking peoples offer Eurosceptics an alternative political community to the European Union, and one that aligns history, culture and politics more closely than does Britain’s membership of the EU. Although the Anglosphere does not yet constitute a viable political alternative to Britain’s EU membership, articulating it helps Eurosceptics imagine a UK outside the European Union

Commemorating Race and Empire in the First World War Centenary

International audienc

Why do women invest in pre-pregnancy health and care? A qualitative investigation with women attending maternity services

Background Despite the importance attributed to good pre-pregnancy care and its potential to improve pregnancy and child health outcomes, relatively little is known about why women invest in pre-pregnancy health and care. We sought to gain insight into why women invested in pre-pregnancy health and care. Methods We carried out 20 qualitative in-depth interviews with pregnant or recently pregnant women who were drawn from a survey of antenatal clinic attendees in London, UK. Interviewees were purposively sampled to include high and low investors in pre-pregnancy health and care, with variation in age, partnership status, ethnicity and pre-existing medical conditions. Data analysis was conducted using the Framework method. Results We identified three groups in relation to pre-pregnancy health and care: 1) The “prepared” group, who had high levels of pregnancy planning and mostly positive attitudes to micronutrient supplementation outside of pregnancy, carried out pre-pregnancy activities such as taking folic acid and making changes to diet and lifestyle. 2) The “poor knowledge” group, who also had high levels of pregnancy planning, did not carry out pre-pregnancy activities and described themselves as having poor knowledge. Elsewhere in their interviews they expressed a strong dislike of micronutrient supplementation. 3) The “absent pre-pregnancy period” group, had the lowest levels of pregnancy planning and also expressed anti-supplement views. Even discussing the pre-pregnancy period with this group was difficult as responses to questions quickly shifted to focus on pregnancy itself. Knowledge of folic acid was poor in all groups. Conclusion Different pre-pregnancy care approaches are likely to be needed for each of the groups. Among the “prepared” group, who were proactive and receptive to health messages, greater availability of information and better response from health professionals could improve the range of pre-pregnancy activities carried out. Among the “poor knowledge” group, better response from health professionals might yield greater uptake of pre-pregnancy information. A different, general health strategy might be more appropriate for the “absent pre-pregnancy period” group. The fact that general attitudes to micronutrient supplementation were closely related to whether or not women invested in pre-pregnancy health and care was an unanticipated finding and warrants further investigation.This report is independent research commissioned and funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme Pre-Pregnancy Health and Care in England: Exploring Implementation and Public Health Impact, 006/0068

Basal cytokeratins and their relationship to the cellular origin and functional classification of breast cancer

Recent publications have classified breast cancers on the basis of expression of cytokeratin-5 and -17 at the RNA and protein levels, and demonstrated the importance of these markers in defining sporadic tumours with bad prognosis and an association with BRCA1-related breast cancers. These important observations using different technology platforms produce a new functional classification of breast carcinoma. However, it is important in developing hypotheses about the pathogenesis of this tumour type to review the nomenclature that is being used to emphasize potential confusion between terminology that defines clinical subgroups and markers of cell lineage. This article reviews the lineages in the normal breast in relation to what have become known as the 'basal-like' carcinomas

'It's Just More Acceptable to Be White or Mixed Race and Gay Than Black and Gay': The Perceptions and Experiences of Homophobia in St. Lucia

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals come from diverse cultural groups with differing ethnic and racial identities. However, most research on LGB people uses white western samples and studies of Afro-Caribbean diaspora often use Jamaican samples. Thus, the complexity of Afro-Caribbean LGB peoples’ experiences of homophobia is largely unknown. The authors’ analyses explore experiences of homophobia among LGB people in St. Lucia. Findings indicate issues of skin-shade orientated tolerance, regionalized disparities in levels of tolerance towards LGB people and regionalized passing (regionalized sexual identity shifting). Finally, the authors’ findings indicate that skin shade identities and regional location influence the psychological health outcomes of homophobia experienced by LGB people in St. Lucia

Recapitulating the tumor ecosystem along the metastatic cascade using 3D culture models

Advances in cancer research have shown that a tumor can be likened to a foreign species that disrupts delicately balanced ecological interactions, compromising the survival of normal tissue ecosystems. In efforts to mitigate tumor expansion and metastasis, experimental approaches from ecology are becoming more frequently and successfully applied by researchers from diverse disciplines to reverse engineer and re-engineer biological systems in order to normalize the tumor ecosystem. We present a review on the use of 3D biomimetic platforms to recapitulate biotic and abiotic components of the tumor ecosystem, in efforts to delineate the underlying mechanisms that drive evolution of tumor heterogeneity, tumor dissemination, and acquisition of drug resistance.ope