Impossible protest: noborders in Calais

Since the closure of the Red Cross refugee reception centre in Sangatte, undocumented migrants in Calais hoping to cross the border to Britain have been forced to take refuge in a number of squatted migrant camps, locally known by all as ‘the jungles.’ Unauthorised shanty-like residences built by the migrants themselves, living conditions in the camps are very poor. In June 2009, European ‘noborder’ activists set up a week-long protest camp in the area with the intention of confronting the authorities over their treatment of undocumented migrants. In this article, we analyse the June 2009 noborder camp as an instance of ‘immigrant protest.’ Drawing on ethnographic materials and Jacques Rancière's work on politics and aesthetics, we construct a typology of forms of border control through which to analyse the different ways in which the politics of the noborder camp were staged, performed and policed. Developing a critique of policing practices which threatened to make immigrant protest ‘impossible’, we highlight moments of protest which, through the affirmation of an ‘axiomatic’ equality, disrupted and disarticulated the borders between citizens and non-citizens, the political and non-political

Modelling marine trophic transfer of radiocarbon (14C) from a nuclear facility

Sellafield marine discharges of 14C are the largest contributor to the global collective dose from the nuclear fuel industry. As such, it is important to understand the fate of these discharges beyond the limitations and scope of empirical analytical investigations for this highly mobile radioactive contaminant. Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is widely used to model anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems, such as fishing, although very few EwE studies have modelled the fate of bioavailable contaminants. This work presents, for the first time, a spatial-temporal 14C model utilising recent developments in EwE software to predict the ecological fate of anthropogenic 14C in the marine environment. The model predicted observed trends in 14C activities between different species and through time. It also provided evidence for the integration of Sellafield 14C in species at higher trophic levels through time

beta-Hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate free acid reduces markers of exercise-induced muscle damage and improves recovery in resistance-trained men

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of short-term supplementation with the free acid form of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB-FA) on indices of muscle damage, protein breakdown, recovery and hormone status following a high-volume resistance training session in trained athletes. A total of twenty resistance-trained males were recruited to participate in a high-volume resistance training session centred on full squats, bench presses and dead lifts. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 3 g/d of HMB-FA or a placebo. Immediately before the exercise session and 48 h post-exercise, serum creatine kinase (CK), urinary 3-methylhistadine (3-MH), testosterone, cortisol and perceived recovery status (PRS) scale measurements were taken. The results showed that CK increased to a greater extent in the placebo (329%) than in the HMB-FA group (104%) (P=0.004, d=1.6). There was also a significant change for PRS, which decreased to a greater extent in the placebo (9.1 (SEM 0.4) to 4.6 (SEM 0.5)) than in the HMB-FA group (9.1 (SEM 0.3) to 6.3 (SEM 0.3)) (P=0.005, d = -0.48). Muscle protein breakdown, measured by 3-MH analysis, numerically decreased with HMB-FA supplementation and approached significance (P=0.08, d = 0.12). There were no acute changes in plasma total or free testosterone, cortisol or C-reactive protein. In conclusion, these results suggest that an HMB-FA supplement given to trained athletes before exercise can blunt increases in muscle damage and prevent declines in perceived readiness to train following a high-volume, muscle-damaging resistance-training session

The affective and intimate life of the family migration visa : knowing, feeling and encountering the heteronormative state

This article explores the intimate entanglements of heteronormative power, citizenship and affect in the UK family migration visa. It pays particular attention to the material intricacies of the application process itself and the place of narration and emotional investment central to this form of government. The power of the family visa is how it is attuned to the explicit quantification and categorisation of intimate relationships on which claim to territorial rights rest. Drawing on both the analytical and methodological promise of work on ‘intimacy’ we take the family visa as a particular site for exploring our own intimate entanglement and complicity in this practice of ‘geopolitical making’- that is as both subjects and researchers of the visa. We are interested in how the visa both relies upon and produces certain forms of intimacy, particularly through processes of ‘archiving’ and the intricacies, solidarities and fragments that this is entangled with. We thus explore how we are both authors and subjects of the reproduction of heteronormative order central to visa and the drawing of borders around sanctified and unsanctified intimacy

New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.

Levels of circulating glucose are tightly regulated. To identify new loci influencing glycemic traits, we performed meta-analyses of 21 genome-wide association studies informative for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in up to 46,186 nondiabetic participants. Follow-up of 25 loci in up to 76,558 additional subjects identified 16 loci associated with fasting glucose and HOMA-B and two loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. These include nine loci newly associated with fasting glucose (in or near ADCY5, MADD, ADRA2A, CRY2, FADS1, GLIS3, SLC2A2, PROX1 and C2CD4B) and one influencing fasting insulin and HOMA-IR (near IGF1). We also demonstrated association of ADCY5, PROX1, GCK, GCKR and DGKB-TMEM195 with type 2 diabetes. Within these loci, likely biological candidate genes influence signal transduction, cell proliferation, development, glucose-sensing and circadian regulation. Our results demonstrate that genetic studies of glycemic traits can identify type 2 diabetes risk loci, as well as loci containing gene variants that are associated with a modest elevation in glucose levels but are not associated with overt diabetes

Development and external validation of the eFalls tool: a multivariable prediction model for the risk of ED attendance or hospitalisation with a fall or fracture in older adults.

Falls are common in older adults and can devastate personal independence through injury such as fracture and fear of future falls. Methods to identify people for falls prevention interventions are currently limited, with high risks of bias in published prediction models. We have developed and externally validated the eFalls prediction model using routinely collected primary care electronic health records (EHR) to predict risk of emergency department attendance/hospitalisation with fall or fracture within 1 year. Data comprised two independent, retrospective cohorts of adults aged ≥65 years: the population of Wales, from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank (model development); the population of Bradford and Airedale, England, from Connected Bradford (external validation). Predictors included electronic frailty index components, supplemented with variables informed by literature reviews and clinical expertise. Fall/fracture risk was modelled using multivariable logistic regression with a Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator penalty. Predictive performance was assessed through calibration, discrimination and clinical utility. Apparent, internal-external cross-validation and external validation performance were assessed across general practices and in clinically relevant subgroups. The model's discrimination performance (c-statistic) was 0.72 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.68 to 0.76) on internal-external cross-validation and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.80 to 0.83) on external validation. Calibration was variable across practices, with some over-prediction in the validation population (calibration-in-the-large, -0.87; 95% CI: -0.96 to -0.78). Clinical utility on external validation was improved after recalibration. The eFalls prediction model shows good performance and could support proactive stratification for falls prevention services if appropriately embedded into primary care EHR systems. [Abstract copyright: © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.

The Death Throes of a Stripped Massive Star: An Eruptive Mass-Loss History Encoded in Pre-Explosion Emission, a Rapidly Rising Luminous Transient, and a Broad-Lined Ic Supernova SN2018gep

We present detailed observations of ZTF18abukavn (SN2018gep), discovered in high-cadence data from the Zwicky Transient Facility as a rapidly rising (1.3 mag/hr) and luminous (M_(g,peak) = −20 mag) transient. It is spectroscopically classified as a broad-lined stripped-envelope supernova (Ic-BL SN). The rapid rise to peak bolometric luminosity and blue colors at peak (t_(rise)∼0.5-3 days, L_(bol)≳3×10^(44) erg sec^(−1), g−r = −0.3) resemble the high-redshift Ic-BL iPTF16asu, as well as several other unclassified fast transients. The early discovery of SN2018gep (within an hour of shock breakout) enabled an intensive spectroscopic campaign, including the highest-temperature (T_(eff) ≳ 40,000K) spectra of a stripped-envelope SN. A retrospective search revealed luminous (M_g ∼ M_r ≈ −14mag) emission in the days to weeks before explosion, the first definitive detection of precursor emission for a Ic-BL. We find a limit on the isotropic gamma-ray energy release E_(γ,iso) < 4.9×10^(48) erg, a limit on X-ray emission L_X < 10^(40) erg sec^(−1), and a limit on radio emission νL_ν ≲ 10^(37) erg sec^(−1). Taken together, we find that the data are best explained by shock breakout in a massive shell of dense circumstellar material (0.02 M⊙) at large radii (3×10^(14)cm) that was ejected in eruptive pre-explosion mass-loss episodes

New Horizons in the use of routine data for ageing research

The past three decades have seen a steady increase in the availability of routinely collected health and social care data and the processing power to analyse it. These developments represent a major opportunity for ageing research, especially with the integration of different datasets across traditional boundaries of health and social care, for prognostic research and novel evaluations of interventions with representative populations of older people. However, there are considerable challenges in using routine data at the level of coding, data analysis and in the application of findings to everyday care. New Horizons in applying routine data to investigate novel questions in ageing research require a collaborative approach between clinicians, data scientists, biostatisticians, epidemiologists and trial methodologists. This requires building capacity for the next generation of research leaders in this important area. There is a need to develop consensus code lists and standardised, validated algorithms for common conditions and outcomes that are relevant for older people to maximise the potential of routine data research in this group. Lastly, we must help drive the application of routine data to improve the care of older people, through the development of novel methods for evaluation of interventions using routine data infrastructure. We believe that harnessing routine data can help address knowledge gaps for older people living with multiple conditions and frailty, and design interventions and pathways of care to address the complex health issues we face in caring for older people

Polygenic risk scores for prediction of breast cancer risk in Asian populations.

PURPOSE: Non-European populations are under-represented in genetics studies, hindering clinical implementation of breast cancer polygenic risk scores (PRSs). We aimed to develop PRSs using the largest available studies of Asian ancestry and to assess the transferability of PRS across ethnic subgroups. METHODS: The development data set comprised 138,309 women from 17 case-control studies. PRSs were generated using a clumping and thresholding method, lasso penalized regression, an Empirical Bayes approach, a Bayesian polygenic prediction approach, or linear combinations of multiple PRSs. These PRSs were evaluated in 89,898 women from 3 prospective studies (1592 incident cases). RESULTS: The best performing PRS (genome-wide set of single-nucleotide variations [formerly single-nucleotide polymorphism]) had a hazard ratio per unit SD of 1.62 (95% CI = 1.46-1.80) and an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.635 (95% CI = 0.622-0.649). Combined Asian and European PRSs (333 single-nucleotide variations) had a hazard ratio per SD of 1.53 (95% CI = 1.37-1.71) and an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.621 (95% CI = 0.608-0.635). The distribution of the latter PRS was different across ethnic subgroups, confirming the importance of population-specific calibration for valid estimation of breast cancer risk. CONCLUSION: PRSs developed in this study, from association data from multiple ancestries, can enhance risk stratification for women of Asian ancestry

Genetic effects on gene expression across human tissues

Characterization of the molecular function of the human genome and its variation across individuals is essential for identifying the cellular mechanisms that underlie human genetic traits and diseases. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project aims to characterize variation in gene expression levels across individuals and diverse tissues of the human body, many of which are not easily accessible. Here we describe genetic effects on gene expression levels across 44 human tissues. We find that local genetic variation affects gene expression levels for the majority of genes, and we further identify inter-chromosomal genetic effects for 93 genes and 112 loci. On the basis of the identified genetic effects, we characterize patterns of tissue specificity, compare local and distal effects, and evaluate the functional properties of the genetic effects. We also demonstrate that multi-tissue, multi-individual data can be used to identify genes and pathways affected by human disease-associated variation, enabling a mechanistic interpretation of gene regulation and the genetic basis of diseas