The social geography of childcare: 'making up' the middle class child

Childcare is a condensate of disparate social forces and social processes. It is gendered and classed. It is subject to an excess of policy and political discourse. It is increasingly a focus for commercial exploitation. This is a paper reporting on work in progress in an ESRC funded research project (R000239232) on the choice and provision of pre-school childcare by middle class (service class) families in two contrasting London locations. Drawing on recent work in class analysis the paper examines the relationships between childcare choice, middle class fractions and locality. It suggests that on the evidence of the findings to date, there is some evidence of systematic differences between fractions in terms of values, perspectives and preferences for childcare, but a more powerful case for intra-class similarities, particularly when it comes to putting preferences into practice in the 'making up of a middle class child' through care and education

‘I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family

AbstractMany autistic people are motivated to have friends, relationships and close family bonds, despite the clinical characterisation of autism as a condition negatively affecting social interaction. Many first-hand accounts of autistic people describe feelings of comfort and ease specifically with other autistic people. This qualitative research explored and contrasted autistic experiences of spending social time with neurotypical and autistic friends and family. In total, 12 autistic adults (10 females, aged 21–51) completed semi-structured interviews focused on time spent with friends and family; positive and negative aspects of time spent with neurotypical and autistic friends and family; and feelings during and after spending time together. Three themes were identified: cross-neurotype understanding, minority status and belonging. Investigation of these themes reveals the benefits of autistic people creating and maintaining social relationships with other autistic people, in a more systematic way than previous individual reports. They highlight the need for autistic-led social opportunities and indicate benefits of informal peer support for autistic adults.Lay abstractAlthough autistic people may struggle to interact with others, many autistic people have said they find interacting with other autistic people more comfortable. To find out whether this was a common experience, we did hour-long interviews with 12 autistic adults. We asked them questions about how it feels when spending time with their friends and family, and whether it felt different depending on whether the friends and family were autistic or neurotypical. We analysed the interviews and found three common themes in what our participants said. First, they found spending with other autistic people easier and more comfortable than spending time with neurotypical people, and felt they were better understood by other autistic people. Second, autistic people often felt they were in a social minority, and in order to spend time with neurotypical friends and family, they had to conform with what the neurotypical people wanted and were used to. Third, autistic people felt like they belonged with other autistic people and that they could be themselves around them. These findings show that having time with autistic friends and family can be very beneficial for autistic people and played an important role in a happy social life

Sport in the city: measuring economic significance at the local level

In many cities throughout Europe, sport is increasingly being used as a tool for economic revitalisation. While there has been a growth in literature relating to the specific economic impacts of sports-led development, including professional sport facilities, teams, and sport events, limited research has been undertaken on the contribution of the whole sport sector to output and employment. In the United Kingdom (UK), studies have focused on evaluating sport-related economic activity at the national level, yet despite the increasing use of sport for local economic development little research has been undertaken at the city level. To address this situation, this article uses the National Income Accounting framework to measure the economic importance of sport in Sheffield, UK. It shows that the value-added in 1996/97 was 165.61m or 4.11% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), approximately twice the amount predicted from current national estimates. It is argued that this can primarily be explained by previous studies under-estimating the economic importance of sport, largely due to methodological differences. It goes on to suggest that future research on the significance of sport should be undertaken at the local level to provide policymakers with information at the spatial level where regeneration programmes are being implemented.</p

Safety of Daptomycin in Patients Receiving Hemodialysis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90386/1/phco.31.7.665.pd

DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF STABILITY IN HUMAN LOADED WALKING AT DIFFERENT VELOCITIES AND HEIGHTS OF THE CENTER OF MASS, AND POSSIBLE OPTIMAL AREAS IN DIFFERENT MODES OF WALKING

INTRODUCTION: Loaded walking plays an important role in man’s many activities, including sport, such as leisure travel and hill walking. It is known that in loaded walking velocity and height of the body center of mass (COM) are two important factors for the stability of the whole body. This paper investigates which heights and velocities of COM lead to stable loaded and unloaded walking. METHODS: The method was as follows: 1) We considered the whole body as a simple three-segment model, made of two lower limbs (leg-foot) and one upper body (head-trunk-arm, HTA); 2) We recorded motion and ground reaction forces from real subjects walking at self-determined 'slow', 'comfortable', 'fast' speeds and loaded in one of three different ways and different carried ways; 3) We applied dynamic equations to the models; 4) We input the motion and ground reaction forces acquired into the models, and obtained their dynamic response at the body center of mass; 5) From these experiments and simulation, we can analyze possible optimum areas at different velocities and heights of COM. RESULTS: Results confirm that there are different dynamic responses for different modes of walking. In general, taking the stability of the center of mass as our criterion, stability in loaded walking decreases with an increase in the height and velocity of COM. However, a lower height of COM does not always satisfy the criterion of stability. Neither does a greater height of COM always lead to reduced stability. Rather, it is apparent that different modes of loaded walking each have a characteristic height/velocity area, beyond which stability decreases. So it is discovered that a special stability area may exist for a relative walking way. CONCLUSIONS: In fact, for different carried walking ways, there are some suitable areas where optimum stability may be obtained and beyond which the stability of human walking may decrease. For a different height of COM, this paper recommends some relative walking velocity which may be referenced in human leisure, sport and transport activities

Not in my back yard! Sports stadia location and the property market

In recent years sports stadia have been built in the UK, not only for their intended sporting purpose but with the twin aim of stimulating economic and physical regeneration. However, proposals to locate stadia in urban areas often prompt a negative reaction from local communities, fearing a decline in property prices. This paper will use a case study of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the City of Manchester Stadium to illustrate that in contrast to this widely held belief, sports stadia can actually enhance the value of residential property. Furthermore, it will argue that stadia also contribute indirectly to property value through the creation of pride, confidence and enhanced image of an area.</p

The pioneer transcription factors Foxa1 and Foxa2 regulate alternative RNA splicing during thymocyte positive selection.

During positive selection at the transition from CD4+CD8+ double-positive (DP) to single positive (SP) thymocyte, TCR signalling results in appropriate MHC-restriction and signals for survival and progression. We show that the pioneer transcription factors Foxa1 and Foxa2 are required to regulate RNA splicing during positive selection. Foxa1 and Foxa2 had overlapping/compensatory roles. Conditional deletion of both Foxa1 and Foxa2 from DP thymocytes reduced positive selection and development of CD4SP, CD8SP and peripheral naïve CD4+T-cells. Foxa1 and Foxa2 regulated expression of many genes encoding splicing-factors and regulators, including Mbnl1, H1f0, Sf3b1, Hnrnpa1, Rnpc3, Prpf4b, Prf40b and Snrpd3. Within the positively selecting CD69+DP cells, alternative RNA splicing was dysregulated in the double Foxa1/Foxa2 conditional knockout, leading to >850 differentially used exons (DEU). Many genes important for this stage of T-cell development (Ikzf1-3, Ptprc, Stat5a, Stat5b, Cd28, Tcf7) and splicing-factors (Hnrnpab, Hnrnpa2b1, Hnrnpu, Hnrnpul1, Prpf8) showed multiple DEU. Thus Foxa1 and Foxa2 are required during positive selection to regulate alternative splicing of genes essential for T-cell development, and that by also regulating splicing of splicing-factors, they exert widespread control of alternative splicing

Sonic Hedgehog is a determinant of γδ T-Cell differentiation in the Thymus

Here we investigate the function of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling in thymic γδ T-cell maturation and subset differentiation. Analysis of Hh mutants showed that Hh signaling promotes γδ T-cell development in the thymus and influences γδ T-cell effector subset distribution. Hh-mediated transcription in thymic γδ cells increased γδ T-cell number, and promoted their maturation and increased the γδNKT subset, whereas inhibition of Hh-mediated transcription reduced the thymic γδ T-cell population and increased expression of many genes that are normally down-regulated during γδ T-cell maturation. These changes were also evident in spleen, where increased Hh signaling increased γδNKT cells, but reduced CD27-CD44+ and Vγ2+ populations. Systemic in vivo pharmacological Smoothened-inhibition reduced γδ T-cell and γδNKT cells in the thymus, and also reduced splenic γδ T-cell and γδNKT populations, indicating that Hh signaling also influences homeostasis of peripheral γδ T-cell populations. Taken together our data indicate that Sonic Hedgehog is an important determinant of γδ T-cell effector subset differentiation

In the fetal thymus, Gli3 in thymic epithelial cells promotes thymocyte positive selection and differentiation by repression of Shh

Gli3 is a Hedgehog (Hh) responsive transcription factor that can function as a transcriptional repressor or activator. We show that Gli3 activity in thymic epithelial cells (TEC) promotes positive selection and differentiation from CD4+CD8+ to CD4+CD8- single positive (SP4) cell in the fetal thymus and that Gli3 represses Shh Constitutive deletion of Gli3, and conditional deletion of Gli3 from TEC, reduced differentiation to SP4, whereas conditional deletion of Gli3 from thymocytes did not. Conditional deletion of Shh from TEC increased differentiation to SP4, and expression of Shh was upregulated in the Gli3-deficient thymus. Use of a transgenic Hh-reporter showed that the Hh pathway was active in thymocytes, and increased in the Gli3-deficient fetal thymus. Neutralisation of endogenous Hh proteins in the Gli3-/- thymus restored SP4 differentiation, indicating that Gli3 in TEC promotes SP4 differentiation by repression of Shh Transcriptome analysis showed that Hh-mediated transcription was increased but TCR-mediated transcription decreased in Gli3-/- thymocytes compared to WT