Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies: Research Findings in the United Kingdom

This study focused on the current and future role of migrant (foreign born) workers in the care of older people. It investigated the current and potential future demand for migrant carers in an ageing society; the experiences of migrant care workers, their employers and of older people in residential and home care settings; and the implications of these findings for the social care of older people and for migration policy. Focusing on the UK, it was one of four country studies conducted between Spring 2007 and Spring 2009 in the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada

The Impact of Migration on UK Population Growth

Based on official population estimates and population projections, this briefing examines the impact of migration on recent and future UK demographic trends

Modernism and Rhetoric. Pirandello and Michelstaedter

The article proposes to analyze the criticisms made by Luigi Pirandello (On Humor, 1908) and Carlo Michelstaedter (Persuasion and Rhetoric, 1909-1910) in regard to the classical idea of Rhetoric. It also proposes to show how the two different approaches derive from differing interpretations of the new modernist themes. For Pirandello, referring to the principles of imitation of the rules of rhetoric means to repropose, in works of art, universally accepted truths, suppressing in them the new modernist awareness that has upset the previous direct link between life and representation; Michelstaedter, instead, believes that the rejection of the old Rhetoric does not erase the imitative relation, because with the loss of the timeless referent of the metaphysical idea of Truth, the «mimetic regime» is simply shifted onto the historical referent of social consent.Pirandello’s analysis, based on the contrast between Life and Truth, becomes – in Italy – the perfect mirror of the new modernist themes regarding the inability of assuming Reality in the symbolisms of the I. Michelstaedter’s analysis of the same issues is meticulous but also critical, and he concludes that the crisis of the concept of Truth does not lead to the liberation of the Subject from the confines of metaphysical thought but forces it into the mimetic regime of a Truth that is, from time to time, the dominant ideology of a particular moment in history.

Analysis of Distal-less Gene Expression in Ciona intestinalis

Several homeobox-containing genes related to Distal-less (Dlx/Dll) have been isolated from a wide variety of organisms and have been shown to function as developmental regulators. In Drosophila only one Distal-less gene has been identified so far, and in vertebrates many components of the Distal-less family have been characterized. This suggests that, during the evolution of the Chordate phylum, the Dlx genes arose from an ancestral Distal-less gene via gene duplication. Three Dll homeoboxes have been isolated from the protochordate Ciona intestinalis and their clustered arrangement has been described. Since Ciona is regarded as one of the most primitive extant chordates, the present analysis gives us an insight into how these fundamental biological genes are evolved or are conserved during chordate evolution. The goal of this project was to clone coding sequences from the DllA/DllB cluster of Ciona intestinalis in order to observe the gene expression using in situ hybridization. During my study of DllA and DllB genes in Ciona, I used various techniques including PCR, restriction digest, sticky-end ligation, and transformation, to obtain cDNA from each gene. These cDNAs, DNA copies of the mRNA sequences, were used to create digoxigenin-labeled antisense RNA probes by in vitro transcription with T7 RNA polymerase. The in-situ hybridization documented gene expression in the epithelial cells and neural tissue, which is consistent with the expression patterns found in other species. The DllA probe was expressed in the anterior epithelial tissue in mid-tail stage embryos, on the adhesive papillae of late-tail stage embryos, and the bilateral primordia of the atrial siphon of larvae. DllB probe in blastula through early tail stages showed expression patterns in epidermal and neuroectodermal cells

Migration, gender and politics of development in Pacific Islands

The general objective of this edited collection is to shed new light on significant gendered, social, economic and political aspects of the diverse Pacific Islands’ migratory landscape. The articles focus on some of the emerging patterns and development implications of current migration trends and policies in the region such as temporary and seasonal labour mobility, migrant women’s work in traditionally male-dominated sectors, strategies for managing environmentally-induced migration and the policies for coercive relocation of asylum seekers. Processes of internal mobility and their connection to challenges posed by rapid urbanisation in Melanesian countries, are also addressed in this collection. Without losing sight of global forces that have structured and still impact economies and patterns of mobility in the region, our approach situates the migration and development nexus within the context of Pacific Islands’ colonial legacies and post-colonial relations, economic and environmental vulnerabilities, and socio-cultural belongings. Ultimately, the gendered and situated perspectives deployed by the authors expose structured relations of power and unpack some of the problems and contradictions of current migration governance and related politics of development in the region, allowing for questions of accountability and responsibility to be addressed. This introduction sets the scene by providing an overview of mobility patterns in the South Pacific, identifying some key knowledge and evidence gaps in the regional literature, and synthesizing the conceptual approach and principal arguments put forward by the contributed articles

Versatile bipolar temperature controller for custom in vitro applications

Effective temperature control is crucial in many studies of isolated biological tissues, with preparations often requiring specialized holding chambers. In these situations, the design flexibility and optimizations offered by a custom made temperature controller may be preferable over a commercial model. We present a versatile controller for heating and cooling applications, providing simple step-by-step instructions to mathematically model your specific system and optimize controller parameters. The apparatus uses analog components and linear stages to simplify circuit comprehension and customization, achieving fast transitions with small static errors and overshoots over a wide range of temperatures without readjustment. A fully featured rackable enclosure is complemented by two temperature probes based on the LMT70A linear microchip sensor (for the control loop and for bath monitoring). BNC outputs provide scaled probe signals for continuous temperature data acquisition. The maximum achievable power output of the controller is -23.5 W/+22.0 W (-4.7 V/+4.4 V, \ub15.0 A), sufficient to bring a well designed holder for standard 35 mm chambers from 23 \ub0C up to 37 \ub0C in ~1 min and down to 3 \ub0C in ~4 min. Any biologist with some technical prowess should be able to follow our instructions from modeling to assembly and calibration

Migrant entry channels and family - related migratory patterns in Europe: a theoretical and empirical investigation

Despite the quantitative relevance of family-related migration in most European countries, few studies have attempted to shed light on how migration policies affect family-level migration strategies. The nature of this knowledge gap is both theoretical and empirical. Conceptually, framing the intersections between the macro-level institutional frameworks underpinned by immigration policies, the meso-level functioning of social networks and the micro-level family decision-making is a challenging task. From an empirical perspective, sound analysis of the family and migratory patterns vis-à-vis the institutional frameworks regulating admission, settlement and the right to family reunification is jeopardised by the lack of data sources that keep track of immigration status on entry (and the subsequent status changes), of the family history prior to migration, and of the patterns and timing of household formation in the country of destination. This paper attempts to address these knowledge gaps. Its overarching aim is to contribute to a better understanding of how admission channels shape household composition and the patterns and timing of family migratory processes. The paper begins with a conceptual review and synthesis of the links between immigration policies, migratory processes and household decision-making strategies. The following empirical analysis is based on the 2008 Ad-Hoc Module on migrant workers of the EU Labour Force Survey for eleven EU receiving countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom). A set of indicators is used to describe the migrant household composition and timing of families’ migratory pattern. Results reveal distinctive family-related migration patterns and migrant household composition by route of entry, suggesting that selective admission policies define the composition of the migrant families at different stages of the migratory experience, disrupting the cohabitation of spouses and, even more often, of different generations. One major feature of the association is its strong gendered connotation

An ex vivo electroretinographic apparatus for the ml-scale testing of drugs to one day and beyond

When screening new drugs to treat retinal diseases, ex vivo electroretinography (ERG) potentially combines the experimental throughput of its traditional in vivo counterpart, with greater mechanistic insight and reproducible delivery. To date, this technique was used in experiments with open loop superfusion and lasting up to a few hours. Here, we present a compact apparatus that provides continuous and simultaneous recordings of the scotopic a-waves from four mouse retinas for much longer durations. Crucially, each retina can be incubated at 37 °C in only 2 mL of static medium, enabling the testing of very expensive drugs or nano devices. Light sensitivity and response kinetics of these preparations remain in the physiological range throughout incubation, displaying only very slow drifts. As an example application, we showed that barium, a potassium channel blocker used to abolish the glial component of the ERG, displayed no overt side effects on photoreceptors over several hours. In another example, we fully regenerated a partially bleached retina using a minimal quantity of 9-cis-retinal. Finally, we demonstrated that including antibiotic in the incubation medium extends physiological light responses to over one day. This system represents a necessary stepping stone towards the goal of combining ERG recordings with organotypically cultured retinas