An evaluation of the Sycamore Tree programme: based on an analysis of Crime Pics II data

Sheffield Hallam University, in conjunction with Manchester Metropolitan University, were commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the Sycamore Tree programme by Prison Fellowship England and Wales, who have been delivering the programme across a wide range of prisons throughout England and Wales over a number of years. This current evaluation builds on a previous report published by Sheffield Hallam University in 2005 which undertook a similar analysis and identified a positive impact on prisoners who had successfully completed the programme

Enhancing the role of the voluntary and community sector - a case study of the Yorkshire and Humber Region

This report was commissioned by the Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to evaluate at ground level, using the Yorkshire and Humberside region as a case study, what is currently being achieved by the Prison and Probation Services in working with the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS); and to identify and provide analysis of perceived barriers and make recommendations to improve the engagement of the sector

Mother on Mothers

From Supernanny to Gilmore Girls, from Katie Price to Holly Willoughby, a wide range of examples of mothers and motherhood appear on television today. Drawing on questionnaires completed by mothers across the UK, this book sheds new light on the diverse ways in which mothers make sense of popular representations of motherhood on television

Masculinit(ies) and the male celebrity feminist

There has been a growing interest over the past decade in famous women who have labeled themselves, or others as feminist, with further comment being paid to those who are more or less deserving of the label in question. It is only more recently that we have seen the media spotlight focus on those male celebrities who have spoken openly about their interest in gender equality. There are a small number of men from the film, television, and sporting arena who appear with frequency and regularity on popular media listicles including, but not limited to “Feminist Statements from Male Celebrities” (McWilliams 2015) and “Male Celebrities Who Are Proud To Be Feminist” (Thorp 2015). Of those men who critique patriarchal society and condemn notions of sexual imbalance within and beyond the entertainment industry, some speak of respecting femininity, others applaud the woman’s role, and others again wear the (Fawcett Society) T-shirt. I seek to examine the ways in which a number of men in the entertainment arena have vocalized their desire for gender balance. My question here is whether media portrayals of men such as Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ashton Kutcher are seen to be genuinely committed to social and sexual change or should be challenged for feminist-inspired musings that stop short of campaigning. I hope to draw attention to the growing body of male celebrity feminists and their equality commentaries on social media, before considering the ways in which these men might present a challenge to social and sexual norms within and beyond the entertainment arena

The hierarchy of celebrity childbirth stories

Extant literature from within the fields of star studies and gender theory remind us that women have long been interested and indeed invested in the sartorial tastes, beauty regimes and diet programmes of film stars. Likewise, female celebrities have given us access to their homes, fridges and handbags in order to seek the attentions and possible approval of the woman in the traditional women’s magazine and gossip sector. More recently a myriad of recognisable women from the entertainment sphere have shared their pregnancy fashions and mummy makeovers with an interested audience. Indeed, we have begun to witness these women discussing their most private, personal experiences by way of their childbirth stories. What is important here are the ways in which famous figures speak about differences between ‘natural’ and ‘medicalised’ experiences, and the issues of legitimacy, appropriateness and worth that stem from these narratives. In much the same way as we are asked to judge, rank and qualify these women for their fashion purchases, fitness choices and maternal practices in line with the ‘mommy wars’, so too are we now being asked to value (or otherwise) their experiences of labour. This article will look at a range of celebrity birth stories and examine the ways in which they can be seen as evidence of the ways in which tensions between working and stay-at-home mothers have escalated so as to include new rivalry and resentments over maternal bodies

Modelling the Contributions of Malaria, HIV, Malnutrition and Rainfall to the Decline in Paediatric Invasive Non-typhoidal Salmonella Disease in Malawi

Introduction Nontyphoidal Salmonellae (NTS) are responsible for a huge burden of bloodstream infection in Sub-Saharan African children. Recent reports of a decline in invasive NTS (iNTS) disease from Kenya and The Gambia have emphasised an association with malaria control. Following a similar decline in iNTS disease in Malawi, we have used 9 years of continuous longitudinal data to model the interrelationships between iNTS disease, malaria, HIV and malnutrition. Methods Trends in monthly numbers of childhood iNTS disease presenting at Queen’s Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi from 2002 to 2010 were reviewed in the context of longitudinal monthly data describing malaria slide-positivity among paediatric febrile admissions, paediatric HIV prevalence, nutritional rehabilitation unit admissions and monthly rainfall over the same 9 years, using structural equation models (SEM). Results Analysis of 3,105 iNTS episodes identified from 49,093 blood cultures, showed an 11.8% annual decline in iNTS (p < 0.001). SEM analysis produced a stable model with good fit, revealing direct and statistically significant seasonal effects of malaria and malnutrition on the prevalence of iNTS disease. When these data were smoothed to eliminate seasonal cyclic changes, these associations remained strong and there were additional significant effects of HIV prevalence. Conclusions These data suggest that the overall decline in iNTS disease observed in Malawi is attributable to multiple public health interventions leading to reductions in malaria, HIV and acute malnutrition. Understanding the impacts of public health programmes on iNTS disease is essential to plan and evaluate interventions

Kinetic and Therapeutic Aspects of Zinc Metabolism

Zinc is one of the essential trace elements for man and there is now considerable evidence to show that a deficiency of zinc is related to the poor wound healing found in some patients, particularly those with varicose ulcers. Oral zinc therapy has been used successfully in the treatment of these patients but as zinc is toxic in large doses many workers have regarded it with disfavour, particularly since little is known about the metabolism of either dietary or therapeutic doses of zinc in man. The aim of the present work has therefore been to study the manner in which both trace and therapeutic amounts of zinc are transported by plasma to the organs and tissues and to relate the uptake and clearance of zinc from plasma to that of the various tissues. An initial study was carried out on in vitro binding of zinc to the plasma proteins to compare the results obtained using protein separation by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate and by chromatography using Sephadex gels. Chromatography on Sephadex gels was found to be the more suitable method, particularly for study of endogenous zinc binding and of the binding of trace amounts of radiozinc administered to subjects in vivo. While albumin was found to bind virtually all the zinc added to plasma in vitro, the endogenous pattern of zinc binding has two main components, albumin and a second high molecular weight protein fraction coincident with alpha2-macroglobulin, which has been shown to be a zinc metalloprotein by other workers. A study of the endogenous zinc distribution in normal subjects shoved that approximately one third of the plasma zinc was bound to alpha2-macroglobulin and the remaining two thirds to albumin. The variation of binding of a tracer dose of radiozinc administered orally to two normal volunteers was studied as a function of time. It was found that at peak plasma zinc-65 level about 90% of the zinc-65 was bound to albumin but this level dropped during the first 2k hours to about 75%, a value approximately equal to the endogenous proportion. When intravenous clearance of zinc-65 was studied it was found that the major part of the zinc-65 disappeared very rapidly from plasma, with a half-life of about 20 minutes. As this could be related to clearance from the albumin fraction it was shown that albumin is a transport protein for zinc. When the uptake of zinc-65 by liver and muscle was compared with the disappearance of zinc from plasma it was found that the zinc-65 was cleared very rapidly into the liver during the first 2k hours, at a rate which corresponded to the clearance of zinc-65 from the albumin fraction. Clearance of zinc-65 in plasma into the liver stopped when the fraction of the zinc-65 bound to alpha2-macroglobulin reached about one third of the total. Uptake by muscle was much slower and evidence has been produced to show that this is due to transfer of zinc from liver to muscle by plasma. The clearance of a therapeutic dose of zinc from plasma was then studied in normal volunteers after an oral dose of zinc sulphate. It was found that the resultant increase in plasma zinc was bound to both alpha2-macroglobulin and albumin fractions, in some cases more than doubling the original amounts bound to the proteins. After about 6 hours both albumin and alpha2-macroglobulin zinc levels had dropped significantly, in some cases back to the original levels, showing that alpha2-macroglobulin also a transport protein for zinc. There are thus two transport proteins for zinc, albumin and alpha2-macroglobulin, which apparently have separate functions in the control and clearance of absorbed zinc to the tissues