2,804 research outputs found
Enfield Citizensâ Advice Bureau - clients profile & needs gap analysis
This research report maps the characteristics of Enfield Citizens Advice Bureauâs clients and explores their needs and the impact of CAB services on their lives. The report also identifies challenges and opportunities faced by the organisation and, more generally, by local third sector service providers in the changing funding and policy environment
Follow-up after curative resection for gastric cancer. Is it time to tailor it?
There is still no consensus on the follow-up frequency and regimen after curative resection for gastric cancer. Moreover, controversy exists regarding the utility of follow-up in improving survival, and the recommendations of experts and societies vary considerably. The main reason to establish surveillance programs is to diagnose tumor recurrence or metachronous cancers early and to thereby provide prompt treatment and prolong survival. In the setting of gastric malignancies, other reasons have been put forth: (1) the detection of adverse effects of a previous surgery, such as malnutrition or digestive sequelae; (2) the collection of data; and (3) the identification of psychological and/or social problems and provision of appropriate support to the patients. No randomized controlled trials on the role of follow-up after curative resection of gastric carcinoma have been published. Herein, the primary retrospective series and systematic reviews on this subject are analyzed and discussed. Furthermore, the guidelines from international and national scientific societies are discussed. Follow-up is recommended by the majority of institutions; however, there is no real evidence that follow-up can improve long-term survival rates. Several studies have demonstrated that it is possible to stratify patients submitted to curative gastrectomy into different classes according to the risk of recurrence. Furthermore, promising studies have identified several molecular markers that are related to the risk of relapse and to prognosis. Based on these premises, a promising strategy will be to tailor follow-up in relation to the patient and tumor characteristics, molecular marker status, and individual risk of recurrence
Health challenges in refugee reception: dateline Europe 2016
The arrival of more than one million migrants, many of them refugees, has proved a major test for the European Union. Although international relief and monitoring agencies have been critical of makeshift camps in Calais and Eidomeni where infectious disease and overcrowding present major health risks, few have examined the nature of the official reception system and its impact on health delivery. Drawing upon research findings from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project, this article considers the physical and mental health of asylum-seekers in transit and analyses how the closure of borders has engendered health risks for populations in recognised reception centres in Sicily and in Greece. Data gathered by means of a survey administered in Greece (300) and in Sicily (400), and complemented by in-depth interviews with migrants (45) and key informants (50) including representatives of government offices, humanitarian and relief agencies, NGOs and activist organisations, are presented to offer an analysis of the reception systems in the two frontline states. We note that medical provision varies significantly from one centre to another and that centre managers play a critical role in the transmission of vital information. A key finding is that, given such disparity, the criteria used by the UNHCR to grade health services reception do not address the substantive issue that prevent refugees from accessing health services, even when provided on site. Health provision is not as recorded in UNHCR reporting but rather there are critical gaps between provision, awareness, and access for refugees in reception systems in Sicily and in Greece. This article concludes that there is a great need for more information campaigns to direct refugees to essential services
Astrophysics in S.Co.P.E
S.Co.P.E. is one of the four projects funded by the Italian Government in
order to provide Southern Italy with a distributed computing infrastructure for
fundamental science. Beside being aimed at building the infrastructure,
S.Co.P.E. is also actively pursuing research in several areas among which
astrophysics and observational cosmology. We shortly summarize the most
significant results obtained in the first two years of the project and related
to the development of middleware and Data Mining tools for the Virtual
Observatory
Comments on Experimental Studies of Electrostatic Fluctuations in a Turbulently Heated Plasma
Optimisation of bitumen emulsion properties for ballast stabilisation
: Ballasted track, while providing economical and practical advantages, is associated with high costs
and material consumption due to frequent maintenance. More sustainable alternatives to conventional ballasted
trackbeds should therefore aim at extending its durability, particularly considering ongoing increases in traffic
speed and loads. In this regard, the authors have investigated a solution consisting of bitumen stabilised ballast (BSB), designed to be used for new trackbeds as well as in reinforcing existing ones. This study presents the
idea behind the technology and then focuses on a specific part of its development: the optimisation of bitumen
emulsion properties and dosage in relation to ballast field conditions. Results showed that overall bitumen stabilisation improved ballast resistance to permanent deformation by enhancing stiffness and damping properties.
Scenarios with higher dosage of bitumen emulsion, higher viscosity, quicker setting behaviour, and harder base
bitumen seem to represent the most desirable conditions to achieve enhanced in-field performanc
X-ray and UV correlation in the quiescent emission of Cen X-4, evidence of accretion and reprocessing
We conducted the first long-term (60 days), multiwavelength (optical,
ultraviolet, and X-ray) simultaneous monitoring of Cen X-4 with daily Swift
observations, with the goal of understanding variability in the low mass X-ray
binary Cen X-4 during quiescence. We found Cen X-4 to be highly variable in all
energy bands on timescales from days to months, with the strongest quiescent
variability a factor of 22 drop in the X-ray count rate in only 4 days. The
X-ray, UV and optical (V band) emission are correlated on timescales down to
less than 110 s. The shape of the correlation is a power law with index gamma
about 0.2-0.6. The X-ray spectrum is well fitted by a hydrogen NS atmosphere
(kT=59-80 eV) and a power law (with spectral index Gamma=1.4-2.0), with the
spectral shape remaining constant as the flux varies. Both components vary in
tandem, with each responsible for about 50% of the total X-ray flux, implying
that they are physically linked. We conclude that the X-rays are likely
generated by matter accreting down to the NS surface. Moreover, based on the
short timescale of the correlation, we also unambiguously demonstrate that the
UV emission can not be due to either thermal emission from the stream impact
point, or a standard optically thick, geometrically thin disc. The spectral
energy distribution shows a small UV emitting region, too hot to arise from the
accretion disk, that we identified as a hot spot on the companion star.
Therefore, the UV emission is most likely produced by reprocessing from the
companion star, indeed the vertical size of the disc is small and can only
reprocess a marginal fraction of the X-ray emission. We also found the
accretion disc in quiescence to likely be UV faint, with a minimal contribution
to the whole UV flux.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Proc. Int. Conf. Physics at the
Magnetospheric Boundary, Geneva, Switzerland (25-28 June, 2013
Dystonia: sparse synapses for D2 receptors in striatum of a DYT1 knock-out mouse model
Dystonia pathophysiology has been partly linked to downregulation and dysfunction of dopamine D2 receptors in striatum. We aimed to investigate the possible morpho-structural correlates of D2 receptor downregulation in the striatum of a DYT1 Tor1a mouse model. Adult control Tor1a+/+ and mutant Tor1a+/â mice were used. The brains were perfused and free-floating sections of basal ganglia were incubated with polyclonal anti-D2 antibody, followed by secondary immune-fluorescent antibody. Confocal microscopy was used to detect immune-fluorescent signals. The same primary antibody was used to evaluate D2 receptor expression by western blot. The D2 receptor immune-fluorescence appeared circumscribed in small disks (~0.3â0.5 ÎŒm diameter), likely representing D2 synapse aggregates, densely distributed in the striatum of Tor1a+/+ mice. In the Tor1a+/â mice the D2 aggregates were significantly smaller (ÎŒm2 2.4 ± SE 0.16, compared to ÎŒm2 6.73 ± SE 3.41 in Tor1a+/+) and sparse, with ~30% less number per microscopic field, value correspondent to the amount of reduced D2 expression in western blotting analysis. In DYT1 mutant mice the sparse and small D2 synapses in the striatum may be insufficient to âgateâ the amount of presynaptic dopamine release diffusing in peri-synaptic space, and this consequently may result in a timing and spatially larger nonselective sphere of influence of dopamine action
The changing Chinese community in London: new migration, new needs.
Londonâs Chinese population in London is one of the most rapidly growing of any national group and is becoming increasingly diverse as new forms of migration develop and people arrive from regions of China which have previously seen little emigration. These developments are a product of political and economic changes in both China and in Britain. The ending of restrictions on travel within China and its growing participation in the global economy have opened up new opportunities for internal and international migration. These new migrants include the most privileged - students, the highly skilled with established jobs in London - as well as those for whom Chinaâs transformation to a market economy has meant dispossession and loss of livelihood. Many have been forced to emigrate for survival,
often leaving family in China. Britain, with other European countries, has become increasingly dependent on migrant labour but immigration policies are increasingly selective, welcoming those with recognised skills while restricting entry to those deemed unskilled. Many of the new thus migrants find themselves forced to rely on âagentsâ to enter the country and their insecure status means they have
limited rights once they have arrived and are vulnerable to exploitation. The deaths of 20 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004 drew attention to the âhiddenâ population of new Chinese migrants. Many new migrants prosper and are able to take advantage of the opportunities which migration brings, but others, especially those with insecure legal and economic status, may struggle, often over a protracted period, to gain a foothold in British society. They may speak little English, have limited
knowledge of British society and are poorly prepared to settle and find adequate work. They need support in order to access services, but many have little information about how to go about this and limited social networks to help them. Most of the established Chinese population in London migrated to Britain from Hong Kong and speak Cantonese, unlike the predominantly Mandarin-speaking new migrants. They have established a range of community, business and cultural organisations but these mainly cater for earlier generations. Some have struggled to respond to the new needs which these new migrants bring, but they often lack the necessary knowledge, language and resources. This report is based on research which focused on the experiences of this new population and ways in which service providers could support them in order to promote their inclusion. Although we focus on new migrants, we acknowledge that there is widespread poverty, exclusion and isolation among older generations of Chinese people, particularly as they reach retirement age. The research included all those identifying their ethnic origin as Chinese, including people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The majority of participants, however, came from mainland China. The study was based in London which has the largest and most diverse Chinese population in Britain and many Chinese organisations. We hope, however, that its findings and recommendations will also be relevant to the Chinese population across Britain. The research was carried out by researchers based at Middlesex University and working with Chinese community organisations in London. We are grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for their financial
support and to the School of Health and Social Science at Middlesex University whose contribution ensured that the project was completed. We also wish to thank the informants from Chinese community organisations and the individuals interviewed for the research who have contributed generously with their time and ideas
- âŠ