Audience responses to representations of family-assisted suicide on British television

Reflecting on different generic conventions, this study highlights the strengths and weaknesses of documentaries and soap operas in addressing the societal and the personal dimensions of family-assisted suicide. Based on an analysis of YouTube user comments, this study compares how audience members respond to representations of family-assisted suicide in British documentaries and soap operas broadcast between 2010 and 2016. The thematic analysis of comments shows key differences between audience engagement with factual and fictional representations. Markers of a political engagement with this sensitive social issue occur more frequently in comments on documentaries than in comments on soap operas. Comments on soap operas are frequently expressions of emotion, or displays of specialist soap opera knowledge

Representations of intergenerational care on BBC children’s television

This paper contributes to research on media representations of care with a textual analysis of BBC children’s television. As a public service broadcaster, the BBC is tasked with the fostering and sustaining of citizenship. This paper argues that representations of care are an important way by which the BBC can potentially meet its remit and inform children’s perceptions of informal care. It takes a focused look at the portrayal of grandparent-grandchild relationships of care in three programmes: ‘Mr Alzheimer’s and Me’, Katie Morag and Topsy and Tim. All three programmes show narrative moments which map onto Tronto’s (1998; 2003) concept of good care, including attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness, solidarity and trust. Grandparents and grandchildren are shown to be caring for each other. However, programmes do not challenge the inequalities which continue to structure the realities of informal care work. Neither the inequalities of power between carers and care receivers, nor the lack of public and government support for carers are addressed, and adult informal care is gendered. This paper argues that while BBC children’s programmes provide important opportunities for children to learn the meaning of good care, in order for it to meet its public service remit, it should also provide opportunities to learn about the relationships of power that structure informal care

Quantification of antithrombin isoform proportions in plasma samples of healthy subjects, sepsis patients, and in antithrombin concentrates

Antithrombin (AT) circulates in plasma in two isoforms, AT-alpha (90-95%) and AT-beta (5-10%). AT isoform proportions were measured in plasma samples of 17 healthy subjects and 26 posttraumatic or postoperative septic patients, as well as in 4 commercially available AT concentrates. Total AT was immune-purified from plasma and concentrates. Micellar electrokinetic chromatography was used to analytically separate and quantify the isoforms. Compared with plasma samples of healthy donors, septic plasmas revealed significantly reduced AT activity (p < 0.001) and beta-isoform content (p < 0.05). AT-beta correlated inversely with urea and creatinine serum concentrations (p < 0.01), indicating a relationship between better renal function and higher beta-isoform content. beta-Isoform neither correlated with age, gender, and 28-day mortality, nor with plasma concentrations of various inflammatory and organ function parameters. The commercial AT concentrate, which is equivalent to the current WHO standard, had an AT-beta content close to that found in plasma of healthy subjects. The availability of this novel quantitative AT isoform assay allows, for the first time, a closer look at the role of AT isoforms in hemostasis and sepsis pathophysiology. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel