Court interpreting in Italy. The daily violation of a fundamental human right

The paper analyses the situation of court interpreting in Italy and examines three cases of blatant violation of the defendants’ right to a fair trial

Cultural mediators in Italy: a new breed of linguists

While most countries have developed accredited, certified interpreting services to facilitate communication between migrant populations and public service providers, in Italy service providers turned to the associations created to assist the migrant populations. Rather than just interpreting, the people sent by the associations also wished to act on the migrants\u2019 behalf as cultural mediators. The guidelines put forward for the professional profile and training of this figure include an unrealistic array of tasks, including interpreting, for which no specific training is provided. The need to involve universities in the training of cultural mediators is most apparent as regards their role as interpreters. Universities have been monitoring this new breed of linguists through research work. This study of mediated healthcare encounters shows how cultural mediators tend to assume conversational dominance and/or proxy roles, with interaction often becoming dyadic, to the exclusion of the patient

Model-driven user interfaces for bioinformatics data resources: regenerating the wheel as an alternative to reinventing it

BACKGROUND: The proliferation of data repositories in bioinformatics has resulted in the development of numerous interfaces that allow scientists to browse, search and analyse the data that they contain. Interfaces typically support repository access by means of web pages, but other means are also used, such as desktop applications and command line tools. Interfaces often duplicate functionality amongst each other, and this implies that associated development activities are repeated in different laboratories. Interfaces developed by public laboratories are often created with limited developer resources. In such environments, reducing the time spent on creating user interfaces allows for a better deployment of resources for specialised tasks, such as data integration or analysis. Laboratories maintaining data resources are challenged to reconcile requirements for software that is reliable, functional and flexible with limitations on software development resources. RESULTS: This paper proposes a model-driven approach for the partial generation of user interfaces for searching and browsing bioinformatics data repositories. Inspired by the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) of the Object Management Group (OMG), we have developed a system that generates interfaces designed for use with bioinformatics resources. This approach helps laboratory domain experts decrease the amount of time they have to spend dealing with the repetitive aspects of user interface development. As a result, the amount of time they can spend on gathering requirements and helping develop specialised features increases. The resulting system is known as Pierre, and has been validated through its application to use cases in the life sciences, including the PEDRoDB proteomics database and the e-Fungi data warehouse. CONCLUSION: MDAs focus on generating software from models that describe aspects of service capabilities, and can be applied to support rapid development of repository interfaces in bioinformatics. The Pierre MDA is capable of supporting common database access requirements with a variety of auto-generated interfaces and across a variety of repositories. With Pierre, four kinds of interfaces are generated: web, stand-alone application, text-menu, and command line. The kinds of repositories with which Pierre interfaces have been used are relational, XML and object databases

Validation of the adolescent binge eating disorder measure (ADO-BED) among transgender youth and young adults

BACKGROUND: Transgender youth and young adults are at increased risk for eating disorders, including binge eating disorder, yet few measures have been validated for screening purposes with the transgender population. METHODS: The purpose of this study was to provide initial evidence for the internal consistency and convergent validity of the Adolescent Binge Eating Disorder questionnaire (ADO-BED) in a sample of transgender youth and young adults. 208 participants completed the ADO-BED as part of a routine nutrition screening protocol at a gender center. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis was used to establish the factor structure of the ADO-BED. Relationships between the ADO-BED, Sick, Control, One Stone, Fat, Food (SCOFF), Nine Item Avoidant/restrictive Intake Disorder (NIAS), Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7), and demographic characteristics were explored. RESULTS: Analyses revealed a one-factor structure of the ADO-BED with good fit to the data in the present sample. The ADO-BED was shown to be significantly related to all convergent validity variables, except the NIAS. CONCLUSIONS: The ADO-BED is a valid measure to screen for BED among transgender youth and young adults. Healthcare professionals can screen all transgender patients for BED, regardless of body size, in order to effectively identify and manage binge eating concerns

Alterations in pain during adolescence and puberty

During adolescence and puberty, alterations in pain, both experimental and clinical, are observed. In addition, adolescents undergo extensive biopsychosocial changes as they transition from childhood to adulthood. However, a better understanding of how the biopsychosocial changes during adolescence impact pain is needed to improve pain management and develop targeted pain interventions for adolescents. This review synthesizes the literature on alterations in pain during adolescence in humans, describes the potential biopsychosocial factors impacting pain during adolescence, and suggests future research directions to advance the understanding of the impact of adolescent development on pain

Alterations in pain during adolescence and puberty

During adolescence and puberty, alterations in pain, both experimental and clinical, are observed. In addition, adolescents undergo extensive biopsychosocial changes as they transition from childhood to adulthood. However, a better understanding of how the biopsychosocial changes during adolescence impact pain is needed to improve pain management and develop targeted pain interventions for adolescents. This review synthesizes the literature on alterations in pain during adolescence in humans, describes the potential biopsychosocial factors impacting pain during adolescence, and suggests future research directions to advance the understanding of the impact of adolescent development on pain

Quality assessment and intonation in simultaneous interpreting: evaluation patterns

The main goal of this paper is to analyse the evaluation patterns of various groups of Simultaneous Interpreting (SI) recipients, paying particular attention to interpreter intonation. The research examines whether different recipients share general patterns when evaluating interpreter intonation, regardless of its degree of monotony. It also looks at whether their degree of knowledge of the SI process results in different patterns and, above all, a reduced influence of the interpreter’s monotony on other quality parameters. The research comprises two studies involving different subjects and materials. The results indicate that, starting from the evaluation of interpreter intonation, certain common traits can be identified in the evaluation patterns of SI

Projections for 'In Embryo' with Needless Alley Collective

Two performances on consecutive nights that evolved from improvisational workshops at Queen Mary University of London involving sound movement and visuals. The contribution by Evelyn Bennett and Christopher Rutter was with projections and light effects using an overhead projector and with audience participation in the evolution of the on stage narrative. Images were created using found objects, gels and drawings done by the audience in response to written questions and prompts during the performance. Needless Alley Collective was supported by Arts Council England and Queen Mary University of London for this project

Correlative tomography of an exceptionally preserved Jurassic ammonite implies hyponome-propelled swimming

The extreme rarity of soft-tissue preservation in ammonoids has meant there are open questions regarding fundamental aspects of their biology. We report an exceptionally preserved Middle Jurassic ammonite with unrivaled information on soft-body organization interpreted through correlative neutron and X-ray tomography. Three-dimensional imaging of muscles and organs of the body mass for the first time in this iconic fossil group provides key insights into functional morphology. We show that paired dorsal muscles withdrew the body into the shell, rather than acting with the funnel controlling propulsion as in Nautilus. This suggests a mobile, retractable body as a defense strategy and necessitates a distinct swimming mechanism of hyponome propulsion, a trait that we infer evolved early in the ammonoid-coleoid lineage.Copyright © 2021, The Authors. This document is the author’s final accepted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it

Cohort Profile: The United Kingdom Research study into Ethnicity and COVID-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers (UK-REACH)

The UK-REACH cohort was established to understand why ethnic minority healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of poorer outcomes from COVID-19 when compared with their White ethnic counterparts in the UK. Through study design, it contains a uniquely high percentage of participants from ethnic minority backgrounds about whom a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data have been collected. A total of 17 891 HCWs aged 16–89 years (mean age: 44) have been recruited from across the UK via all major healthcare regulators, individual National Health Service hospital trusts and UK HCW membership bodies who advertised the study to their registrants/staff to encourage participation in the study. Data available include linked healthcare records for 25 years from the date of consent and consent to obtain genomic sequencing data collected via saliva. Online questionnaires include information on demographics, COVID-19 exposures at work and home, redeployment in the workforce due to COVID-19, mental health measures, workforce attrition and opinions on COVID-19 vaccines, with baseline (n = 15 119), 6 (n = 5632) and 12-month follow-up (n = 6535) data captured. Request data access and collaborations by following documentation found at https://www.uk-reach.org/main/data_sharing