Double jeopardy : a socio-demographic profile of homeless jobseekers aged 18-35

This article reports on socio-demographic research that was undertaken as part of a broader project to improve service delivery to homeless jobseekers aged 18-35 years (Grace et 01 2005). The broader project, known as Yp4, is a randomised controlled trial of joined up services and programs for young homeless jobseekers. Yp4 is an initiative of four organisations: Hanover Welfare Services, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Melbourne Citymission and Loddon Mallee Housing Services This paper does not provide detailed information about the Yp4 trial, rather it reports on socio-demographic research undertaken to set the context in which Yp4 operates. For further details regarding Yp4 please see Horn (2004). When we set out to prepare a socio-demographic profile of homeless jobseekers aged 18-35 years, we found two main ways to count homelessness and at least two ways to quantify unemployment. Obtaining data and assessing its quality was far from easy, and this research was an exercise in frustration and perseverance. In this article we discuss the complexities of counting homelessness and unemployment, and the educated guesswork involved in estimating numbers of homeless jobseekers. We present a tentative socio-demographic profile; and we make suggestions regarding better access to data in the future

A Functional Role for Modality-Specific Perceptual Systems in Conceptual Representations

Theories of embodied cognition suggest that conceptual processing relies on the same neural resources that are utilized for perception and action. Evidence for these perceptual simulations comes from neuroimaging and behavioural research, such as demonstrations of somatotopic motor cortex activations following the presentation of action-related words, or facilitation of grasp responses following presentation of object names. However, the interpretation of such effects has been called into question by suggestions that neural activation in modality-specific sensorimotor regions may be epiphenomenal, and merely the result of spreading activations from “disembodied”, abstracted, symbolic representations. Here, we present two studies that focus on the perceptual modalities of touch and proprioception. We show that in a timed object-comparison task, concurrent tactile or proprioceptive stimulation to the hands facilitates conceptual processing relative to control stimulation. This facilitation occurs only for small, manipulable objects, where tactile and proprioceptive information form part of the multimodal perceptual experience of interacting with such objects, but facilitation is not observed for large, nonmanipulable objects where such perceptual information is uninformative. Importantly, these facilitation effects are independent of motor and action planning, and indicate that modality-specific perceptual information plays a functionally constitutive role in our mental representations of objects, which supports embodied assumptions that concepts are grounded in the same neural systems that govern perception and action

Global monitoring of antimicrobial resistance based on metagenomics analyses of urban sewage

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to global public health, but obtaining representative data on AMR for healthy human populations is difficult. Here, we use meta-genomic analysis of untreated sewage to characterize the bacterial resistome from 79 sites in 60 countries. We find systematic differences in abundance and diversity of AMR genes between Europe/North-America/Oceania and Africa/Asia/South-America. Antimicrobial use data and bacterial taxonomy only explains a minor part of the AMR variation that we observe. We find no evidence for cross-selection between antimicrobial classes, or for effect of air travel between sites. However, AMR gene abundance strongly correlates with socio-economic, health and environmental factors, which we use to predict AMR gene abundances in all countries in the world. Our findings suggest that global AMR gene diversity and abundance vary by region, and that improving sanitation and health could potentially limit the global burden of AMR. We propose metagenomic analysis of sewage as an ethically acceptable and economically feasible approach for continuous global surveillance and prediction of AMR.Peer reviewe

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.

Host-mediated lung inflammation is present1, and drives mortality2, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development3. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10-8) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10-8) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 ×  10-12) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10-8) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Setting a baseline for global urban virome surveillance in sewage

The rapid development of megacities, and their growing connectedness across the world is becoming a distinct driver for emerging disease outbreaks. Early detection of unusual disease emergence and spread should therefore include such cities as part of risk-based surveillance. A catch-all metagenomic sequencing approach of urban sewage could potentially provide an unbiased insight into the dynamics of viral pathogens circulating in a community irrespective of access to care, a potential which already has been proven for the surveillance of poliovirus. Here, we present a detailed characterization of sewage viromes from a snapshot of 81 high density urban areas across the globe, including in-depth assessment of potential biases, as a proof of concept for catch-all viral pathogen surveillance. We show the ability to detect a wide range of viruses and geographical and seasonal differences for specific viral groups. Our findings offer a cross-sectional baseline for further research in viral surveillance from urban sewage samples and place previous studies in a global perspective

Rock Bands/Rock Brands: Mediation and Musical Performance in Post-liberalization Bangalore

This dissertation, based on twelve months of ethnographic research in Bangalore, India, examines the city's six decades-old rock music culture, a rapidly professionalizing musical genre that has been largely overlooked in studies of Indian popular music. Though historically an English-language genre, contemporary Indian rock is performed in myriad regional languages and comprises heavy metal, indie, folk rock, cover songs and a variety of other styles. Observing its predication on the historical and contemporary circulation of transnational popular music media, this research posits Indian rock in Bangalore as significantly shaped by mediation and coextensive commodification: in addition to its grounded performances rock music plays out in a materially configuring and symbolically significant intertextual field composed of mediated sounds, images and discourses found in advertisements, television, print and film. Through historical, textual and ethnographic analysis I explore how these mediations are implicated in the changing symbolic meanings of rock music practices in India, and comprise a modality through which rock music subjects make sense of their own musical projects and their positionality as post-liberalization citizens.Rock music performance in the context of Bangalore's post-liberalization economic and social reconfigurations is a strategic and reflexive practice in which, through creative forms of musical and lyrical expression, musicians negotiate differential forms of tradition, modernity, locality and globalized positionality via a transnational popular repertoire; rock also, however, functions as a vehicle for the reproduction and re-inscription of socio-economic hierarchies taking new shape in the globalized economy and consumer culture of urban India. Thus a study of Indian rock music culture is instrumental in understanding the emergence of new forms of social identity and new or newly contested forms of globalized nationalism in Bangalore's public culture. Indicative of these concerns about national identity are questions about cultural “authenticity” and musical originality that sound out repeatedly throughout the scene. From the many instances of musicians, producers, and local and international media functionaries demanding a “more Indian” or an “original” sound emerge insights into deeper anxieties about the transformations wrought by cultural globalization and the role of music in mediating such social and cultural changes

Rock Bands/Rock Brands: Mediation and Musical Performance in Post-liberalization Bangalore

This dissertation, based on twelve months of ethnographic research in Bangalore, India, examines the city's six decades-old rock music culture, a rapidly professionalizing musical genre that has been largely overlooked in studies of Indian popular music. Though historically an English-language genre, contemporary Indian rock is performed in myriad regional languages and comprises heavy metal, indie, folk rock, cover songs and a variety of other styles. Observing its predication on the historical and contemporary circulation of transnational popular music media, this research posits Indian rock in Bangalore as significantly shaped by mediation and coextensive commodification: in addition to its grounded performances rock music plays out in a materially configuring and symbolically significant intertextual field composed of mediated sounds, images and discourses found in advertisements, television, print and film. Through historical, textual and ethnographic analysis I explore how these mediations are implicated in the changing symbolic meanings of rock music practices in India, and comprise a modality through which rock music subjects make sense of their own musical projects and their positionality as post-liberalization citizens.Rock music performance in the context of Bangalore's post-liberalization economic and social reconfigurations is a strategic and reflexive practice in which, through creative forms of musical and lyrical expression, musicians negotiate differential forms of tradition, modernity, locality and globalized positionality via a transnational popular repertoire; rock also, however, functions as a vehicle for the reproduction and re-inscription of socio-economic hierarchies taking new shape in the globalized economy and consumer culture of urban India. Thus a study of Indian rock music culture is instrumental in understanding the emergence of new forms of social identity and new or newly contested forms of globalized nationalism in Bangalore's public culture. Indicative of these concerns about national identity are questions about cultural “authenticity” and musical originality that sound out repeatedly throughout the scene. From the many instances of musicians, producers, and local and international media functionaries demanding a “more Indian” or an “original” sound emerge insights into deeper anxieties about the transformations wrought by cultural globalization and the role of music in mediating such social and cultural changes

The Co-location of YP4 and Centrelink in Bendigo, Australia: An Example of Partnership in Action

Summary: One expression of partnership between two organizations is the sharing of office space, often known as co-location. In early 2006, case managers employed by Loddon Mallee Housing Services (LMHS), a community-based organization in the regional city of Bendigo, Australia, co-located with the Bendigo office of Centrelink, the Australian government’s statutory income support agency. This article explores Centrelink and LMHS staff and management expectations of co-location as well as the reality of co-location as experienced by the staff involved. It is based on interviews conducted with staff and managers before co-location occurred and again six months thereafter. • Findings: Co-location is a powerful strategy for strengthening inter-agency relationships. The Bendigo example of service co-location provides confirmation of the benefits of co-location suggested in previous literature, including greater respect and trust between professionals from different backgrounds and with different status; informal information exchange, learning and sharing; enhanced feelings of teamwork and belonging; improved morale among staff; and enhanced communication, learning and understanding of roles. • Application: This study found that key issues requiring attention by organizations contemplating co-location include building on pre-existing trust and goodwill; thorough planning, taking into account the potential impact of co-location on third parties as well as client and organizational priorities; attending to logistical details, taking particular account of timelines for connection of telephones and internet access; consulting widely and including all relevant stakeholders in decision-making processes; promoting flexible attitudes and openness to change among affected staff; and seeking to acknowledge and contain rather than remove differences in organizational culture and practice. Compatibility, rather than sameness, should be the goal