Food and vulnerability in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A review and theoretical reframing of food insecurity, income and neoliberalism

The incidence of food insecurity in rich countries has remained stubbornly consistent in recent decades, even as rates of undernourishment in poorer countries have dived since 1990 (United Nations, 2015). This article addresses this apparent contradiction through a theoretical reframing of food insecurity in rich liberal democracies, built on a review of key literature and data. We draw a broad distinction between critical social science approaches to engaging with food insecurity and more empirical, policy-oriented approaches. These produce research that emphasises, respectively, the determinate role of economic class and neoliberalism in generating food insecurity, and the wide array of other factors associated with suffering food insecurity. We argue that both offer useful but analytically confined accounts of food insecurity and its drivers in rich liberal democracies. We proceed, seeking to broaden rather than abandon the strengths of these two accounts, with a review of data on incomes and the incidence of food insecurity in the Aotearoa/New Zealand case. Our review reveals patterns of socio-political deprivation beyond class with parallels across both data sets, significantly along lines of gender and ethnicity. This both offers texturing specifics to a 'monolithic' generic view of neoliberalism and contextualises demographic trends of food insecurity within the neoliberalised "contours of contemporary political-economic power" (Peck and Tickell, 2002, pp.381-382). We subsequently argue for the utility of vulnerability as a concept to capture socio-political dynamics and engage with food insecurity in rich liberal democracies. The framing work done by the concept of vulnerability offers the opportunity to: (1) align the strengths of research approaches emphasising theoretically derived context and empirically founded complexity; (2) account for the consistencies and complexities observed in the relationship between the political-economic landscape of rich liberal democracies following the neoliberal turn and the incidence of food insecurity; and (3) reconsider the relationship between political-economic and socio-political contexts of rich liberal democracies that consistently produce food insecurity and groups of people who live and consistently suffer food insecurity in these countries, for example as "structural violence" (Shepherd, 2012, p.206)

Commercial Cryocoolers for use in HTS Applications

The emerging commercial HTS applications place expectations of high reliability, long service intervals, and environmentally robust cryocoolers. Whilst there have been several attempts at developing cryocoolers in the 300W to 2000W (at 77K) for these applications, the market need has yet to be satisfied. Fabrum Solutions in collaboration with Absolut Systems have formed a joint venture company, AFCryo, that produces a commercially available range of acoustic pulse tube cryocoolers featuring low maintenance, high power output, and cost effective operation. These cryocoolers utilize diaphragm pressure wave generators that hermetically seal the working fluids of the compressor from the helium working gas, ensuring zero degradation of the pulse tube performance. The efficiency, low servicing, and cost effectiveness of these cryocoolers suit the demands of HTS applications, in turn making the commercial success of HTS devices more achievable

An X-Ray View of the Jet-Cycle in the Radio Loud AGN 3C120

We present a study of the central engine in the broad-line radio galaxy 3C120 using a multi-epoch analysis of a deep XMM-Newton observation and two deep Suzaku pointings (in 2012). In order to place our spectral data into the context of the disk-disruption/jet-ejection cycles displayed by this object, we monitor the source in the UV/X-ray bands, and in the radio band. We find three statistically acceptable spectral models, a disk-reflection model, a jet-model and a jet+disk model. Despite being good descriptions of the data, the disk-reflection model violates the radio constraints on the inclination, and the jet-model has a fine-tuning problem, requiring a jet contribution exceeding that expected. Thus, we argue for a composite jet+disk model. Within the context of this model, we verify the basic predictions of the jet-cycle paradigm, finding a truncated/refilling disk during the Suzaku observations and a complete disk extending down to the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) during the XMM-Newton observation. The idea of a refilling disk is further supported by the detection of the ejection of a new jet knot approximately one month after the Suzaku pointings. We also discover a step-like event in one of the Suzaku pointings in which the soft band lags the hard band. We suggest that we are witnessing the propagation of a disturbance from the disk into the jet on a timescale set by the magnetic field.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Tau by the Src Family Kinases Lck and Fyn

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tau protein is the principal component of the neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease, where it is hyperphosphorylated on serine and threonine residues, and recently phosphotyrosine has been demonstrated. The Src-family kinase Fyn has been linked circumstantially to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and shown to phosphorylate Tyr18. Recently another Src-family kinase, Lck, has been identified as a genetic risk factor for this disease.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we show that Lck is a tau kinase. <it>In vitro</it>, comparison of Lck and Fyn showed that while both kinases phosphorylated Tyr18 preferentially, Lck phosphorylated other tyrosines somewhat better than Fyn. In co-transfected COS-7 cells, mutating any one of the five tyrosines in tau to phenylalanine reduced the apparent level of tau tyrosine phosphorylation to 25-40% of that given by wild-type tau. Consistent with this, tau mutants with only one remaining tyrosine gave poor phosphorylation; however, Tyr18 was phosphorylated better than the others.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Fyn and Lck have subtle differences in their properties as tau kinases, and the phosphorylation of tau is one mechanism by which the genetic risk associated with Lck might be expressed pathogenically.</p

A matched study of surgically treated stage IB adenosquamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72055/1/j.1525-1438.1993.03040245.x.pd

Evaluating a pre-surgical health optimisation programme: a feasibility study

BACKGROUND: Health optimisation programmes are increasingly popular and aim to support patients to lose weight or stop smoking ahead of surgery, yet there is little published evidence about their impact. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of evaluating a programme introduced by a National Health Service (NHS) clinical commissioning group offering support to smokers/obese patients in an extra 3 months prior to the elective hip/knee surgery pathway. METHODS: Feasibility study mapping routinely collected data sources, availability and completeness for 502 patients referred to the hip/knee pathway in February–July 2018. RESULTS: Data collation across seven sources was complex. Data completeness for smoking and ethnicity was poor. While 37% (184) of patients were eligible for health optimisation, only 28% of this comparatively deprived patient group accepted referral to the support offered. Patients who accepted referral to support and completed the programme had a larger median reduction in BMI than those who did not accept referral (− 1.8 BMI points vs. − 0.5). Forty-nine per cent of patients who accepted support were subsequently referred to surgery, compared to 61% who did not accept referral to support. CONCLUSIONS: Use of routinely collected data to evaluate health optimisation programmes is feasible though demanding. Indications of the positive effects of health optimisation interventions from this study and existing literature suggest that the challenge of programme evaluation should be prioritised; longer-term evaluation of costs and outcomes is warranted to inform health optimisation policy development. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13741-022-00255-2

Quantifying the effectiveness and health co-benefits of climate change mitigation actions across sectors: a protocol for an umbrella review

Background: Effective and rapid actions are required to achieve global goals for climate change mitigation, and there is an opportunity to ensure that the actions taken are also positive for human health. However, little is known about the relative magnitude of the health co-benefits that can be achieved from mitigation actions, so robust and comprehensive syntheses of the evidence on the nature and effects of relevant actions are required. This paper presents a protocol for an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral umbrella review of systematic reviews, synthesising modelled and empirical evidence on such actions. Methods: Nine bibliographic databases will be searched, capturing literature across a wide range of disciplines and sectors. Unique records retrieved by the searches will be screened by two independent reviewers. The quality of all the included systematic reviews will be assessed using A MeaSurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2 critical appraisal tool. Data will be extracted on methodological and thematic characteristics of the reviews, nature of the actions, and their effects on greenhouse gas emission reduction, health, and its determinants, as well as any other reported effects and interactions across different actions. Results: Narrative and quantitative synthesis methods will be used to create a typology of relevant actions, map pathways to their impacts on health, compare the magnitude of health and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction impacts by selected characteristics of the actions and the nature of the evidence, as well as to identify gaps in evidence syntheses. Conclusion: This review will identify the most effective actions for global climate change mitigation and health based on the best available scientific evidence.   This protocol has been registered in PROSPERO, Reg No.: CRD42021239292.</ns4:p