The development of democracy as a political ideal in the second half of the nineteenth century: with special reference to Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Co. Durham.

This thesis commences with a general review of pre-chartist democratic sentiment in Great Britain followed by a brief study of Chartism's ideology and motivation. It then examines the various aspects of the democratization of the British political system between the years 1850 and 1900. Certain chapters are devoted to key time-spans, notably 1885 and 1867-1868, while others consider particular aspects of electoral practice, including the ballot and women’s suffrage. Other chapters consider the Reform movement prior to 1867, the distribution of parliamentary constituencies, the House of Lords and other, less prominent, issues. The thesis addressed events on the national stage, and the opinions of national political figures, but equal weight is accorded to, and" where possible a comparison attempted with, local political opinion. The latter has been sampled essentially via the local press but, as well as local newspaper editorials, the thesis also extensively quotes the opinions of locally-elected MPs, local political figures and local Reform activists. The two localities studied were selected to provide a comparison in themselves. Hence, as well as national against local and Liberal against Conservative, opinion in rural Tory-dominated Cambridgeshire is compared with that of industrial and overwhelmingly Liberal County Durham. The thesis concludes with an overall review and a short survey of the changing national and local attitudes to "democracy" as such

Fostering communities of open educational practice: lessons from the Support Centre for Open Resources in Education

The initial flush of interest in open educational resources per se has now moved on to discussions and actions that place open educational resources (OER) within a wider set of (open) educational practices (OEP). This new focus on educational practices has encompassed the drivers and barriers to the adoption of appropriate policies and practices within higher education institutions and how best practices within one institution may help foster enhanced practices in other institutions. This paper describes the activities and outcomes of one such funded initiative to use the expertise of an early adopter of OER and OEP (The Open University) to help foster HE sector wide communities and networks of practice within England in particular but across all of the United Kingdom. This initiative was the Support Centre for Open Resources in Education (http://www8.open.ac.uk/score/), which, over a three period, has initiated a series of activities and events that have involved several hundred educational practitioners from the majority of the HEIs in England. While this single institution-led initiative has benefitted form there being a companion sector wide initiative (UKOER) led by two national organisations SCORE has succeeded in raising the profile of OER and OEP within UK HEIs by assisting existing communities of practice and by creating new communities of practice that are forming a much larger network of practice that will be sustained into the future by many of its participants. We will set out the key lessons underlying this success

Functional changes in gut microbiota during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for severe combined immunodeficiency

[Editorial letter

Understanding the Impact of Different Doses of Reducose ® Mulberry Leaf Extract on Blood Glucose and Insulin Responses after Eating a Complex Meal: Results from a Double-Blind, Randomised, Crossover Trial

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are becoming an increasingly important health concern due to a rapidly ageing global population. The fastest growing NCD, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), is responsible for over 2 million deaths annually. Lifestyle changes, including dietary changes to low glycemic response (GR) foods, have been shown to reduce the risk of developing T2DM. The aim of this study was to investigate whether three different doses of Reducose®, a mulberry leaf extract, could lower the GR and insulinemic responses (IR) to a full meal challenge in healthy individuals. A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, repeat-measure, crossover design trial was conducted by the Oxford Brookes Centre for Nutrition and Health; 37 healthy individuals completed the study. Participants consumed capsules containing either 200 mg, 225 mg, 250 mg Reducose® or placebo before a test meal consisting of 150 g white bread and egg mayo filler. Capillary blood samples were collected at 15-min intervals in the first hour and at 30-min intervals over the second and third hours to determine glucose and plasma insulin levels. The consumption of all three doses of Reducose® resulted in significantly lower blood glucose and plasma insulin levels compared to placebo. All three doses of Reducose® (200 mg, 225 mg, 250 mg) significantly lowered glucose iAUC 120 by 30% (p = 0.003), 33% (p = 0.001) and 32% (p = 0.002), respectively, compared with placebo. All three doses of Reducose® (200 mg, 225 mg, 250 mg) significantly lowered the plasma insulin iAUC 120 by 31% (p = 0.024), 34% (p = 0.004) and 38% (p < 0.001), respectively. The study demonstrates that the recommended dose (250 mg) and two lower doses (200 mg, 225 mg) of Reducose® can be used to help lower the GR and IR of a full meal containing carbohydrates, fats and proteins

The respiratory depressant effects of mitragynine are limited by its conversion to 7-OH mitragynine

Background and Purpose: Mitragynine, the major alkaloid in Mitragyna speciosa (kratom), is a partial agonist at the μ opioid receptor. CYP3A-dependent oxidation of mitragynine yields the metabolite 7-OH mitragynine, a more efficacious μ receptor agonist. While both mitragynine and 7-OH mitragynine can induce anti-nociception in mice, recent evidence suggests that 7-OH mitragynine formed as a metabolite is sufficient to explain the anti-nociceptive effects of mitragynine. However, the ability of 7-OH mitragynine to induce μ receptor-dependent respiratory depression has not yet been studied. Experimental Approach: Respiration was measured in awake, freely moving, male CD-1 mice, using whole body plethysmography. Anti-nociception was measured using the hot plate assay. Morphine, mitragynine, 7-OH mitragynine and the CYP3A inhibitor ketoconazole were administered orally. Key Results: The respiratory depressant effects of mitragynine showed a ceiling effect, whereby doses higher than 10 mg·kg−1 produced the same level of effect. In contrast, 7-OH mitragynine induced a dose-dependent effect on mouse respiration. At equi-depressant doses, both mitragynine and 7-OH mitragynine induced prolonged anti-nociception. Inhibition of CYP3A reduced mitragynine-induced respiratory depression and anti-nociception without affecting the effects of 7-OH mitragynine. Conclusions and Implications: Both the anti-nociceptive effects and the respiratory depressant effects of mitragynine are partly due to its metabolic conversion to 7-OH mitragynine. The limiting rate of conversion of mitragynine into its active metabolite results in a built-in ceiling effect of the mitragynine-induced respiratory depression. These data suggest that such ‘metabolic saturation’ at high doses may underlie the improved safety profile of mitragynine as an opioid analgesic

Recruitment of ethnic minority patients to a cardiac rehabilitation trial: The Birmingham Rehabilitation Uptake Maximisation (BRUM) study [ISRCTN72884263]

Background: Concerns have been raised about low participation rates of people from minority ethnic groups in clinical trials. However, the evidence is unclear as many studies do not report the ethnicity of participants and there is insufficient information about the reasons for ineligibility by ethnic group. Where there are data, there remains the key question as to whether ethnic minorities more likely to be ineligible (e.g. due to language) or decline to participate. We have addressed these questions in relation to the Birmingham Rehabilitation Uptake Maximisation (BRUM) study, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing a home-based with a hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation programme in a multi-ethnic population in the UK. Methods: Analysis of the ethnicity, age and sex of presenting and recruited subjects for a trial of cardiac rehabilitation in the West-Midlands, UK. Participants: 1997 patients presenting post-myocardial infarction, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Data collected: exclusion rates, reasons for exclusion and reasons for declining to participate in the trial by ethnic group. Results: Significantly more patients of South Asian ethnicity were excluded (52% of 'South Asian' v 36% 'White European' and 36% 'Other', p < 0.001). This difference in eligibility was primarily due to exclusion on the basis of language (i.e. the inability to speak English or Punjabi). Of those eligible, similar proportions were recruited from the different ethnic groups (white, South Asian and other). There was a marked difference in eligibility between people of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin

Strong Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in Planar Barium Titanate Thin Films

The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPE) leads to the generation of a photocurrent from an asymmetric material. Despite drawing much attention due to its ability to generate photovoltages above the band gap ($E_g$), it is considered a weak effect due to the low generated photocurrents. Here, we show that a remarkably high photoresponse can be achieved by exploiting the BPE in simple planar BaTiO$_3$ (BTO) films, solely by tuning their fundamental ferroelectric properties via strain and growth orientation induced by epitaxial growth on different substrates. We find a non-monotonic dependence of the responsivity ($R_{\rm SC}$) on the ferroelectric polarization ($P$) and obtain a remarkably high BPE coefficient ($\beta$) of $\approx$10$^{-2}$ 1/V, which to the best of our knowledge is the highest reported to date for standard planar BTO thin films. We show that the standard first-principles-based descriptions of BPE in bulk materials cannot account for the photocurrent trends observed for our films and therefore propose a novel mechanism that elucidates the fundamental relationship between $P$ and responsivity in ferroelectric thin films. Our results suggest that practical applications of ferroelectric photovoltaics in standard planar film geometries can be achieved through careful joint optimization of the bulk structure, light absorption, and electrode-absorber interface properties.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Quantification of bedform dynamics and bedload sediment flux in sandy braided rivers from airborne and satellite imagery

Images from specially‐commissioned aeroplane sorties (manned aerial vehicle, MAV), repeat unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys, and Planet CubeSat satellites are used to quantify dune and bar dynamics in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, Canada. Structure‐from‐Motion (SfM) techniques and application of a depth‐brightness model are used to produce a series of Digital Surface Models (DSMs) at low and near‐bankfull flows. A number of technical and image processing challenges are described that arise from the application of SfM in dry and submerged environments. A model for best practice is presented and analysis suggests a depth‐brightness model approach can represent the different scales of bedforms present in sandy braided rivers with low‐turbidity and shallow (< 2 m deep) water. The aerial imagery is used to quantify the spatial distribution of unit bar and dune migration rate in an 18 km reach and three ~1 km long reaches respectively. Dune and unit bar migration rates are highly variable in response to local variations in planform morphology. Sediment transport rates for dunes and unit bars, obtained by integrating migration rates (from UAV) with the volume of sediment moved (from DSMs using MAV imagery) show near‐equivalence in sediment flux. Hence, reach‐based sediment transport rate estimates can be derived from unit bar data alone. Moreover, it is shown that reasonable estimates of sediment transport rate can be made using just unit bar migration rates as measured from 2D imagery, including from satellite images, so long as informed assumptions are made regarding average bar shape and height. With recent availability of frequent, repeat satellite imagery, and the ease of undertaking repeat MAV and UAV surveys, for the first time, it may be possible to provide global estimates of bedload sediment flux for large or inaccessible low‐turbidity rivers that currently have sparse information on bedload sediment transport rates