Baby Bear or Mrs Bear? Young English Bengali-speaking children’s responses to narrative picture books at school

This article presents findings from a one-year study of several Bengali-speaking children aged 5–6 years, in their first year of the English school system. The investigation centres on exploration of the children’s responses, principally to the visual text, of a selection of narrative picture books used in their school. The aim was to collect children’s responses to characters and visual features, and to see what narratives the children made from the picture books. The children, some of whom were relatively experienced viewers and narrators of picture-book stories, produced varied responses to character and décor. The article suggests that the books formed a bridge between the known and the culturally unfamiliar, giving the children access to an understanding of scenes from types of homes other than their own. The author asserts the need to welcome children’s versions of stories and their interpretation of pictures, and to allow them the opportunity to re-read picture books many times

Julian of Norwich and her children today: Editions, translations and versions of her revelations

The viability of such concepts as "authorial intention," "the original text," "critical edition" and, above all, "scholarly editorial objectivity" is not what it was, and a study of the textual progeny of the revelations of Julian of Norwich--editions, versions, translations and selections--does little to rehabilitate them. Rather it tends to support the view that a history of reading is indeed a history of misreading or, more positively, that texts can have an organic life of their own that allows them to reproduce and evolve quite independently of their author. Julian's texts have had a more robustly continuous life than those of any other Middle English mystic. Their history--in manuscript and print, in editions more or less approximating Middle English and in translations more or less approaching Modern English--is virtually unbroken since the fifteenth century. But on this perilous journey, many and strange are the clutches into which she and her textual progeny have fallen

Can the quality of social research on ethnicity be improved through the introduction of guidance? Findings from a research commissioning pilot exercise

As the volume of UK social research addressing ethnicity grows, so too do concerns regarding the ethical and scientific rigour of this research domain and its potential to do more harm than good. The establishment of standards and principles and the introduction of guidance documents at critical points within the research cycle might be one way to enhance the quality of such research. This article reports the findings from the piloting of a guidance document within the research commissioning process of a major funder of UK social research. The guidance document was positively received by researchers, the majority of whom reported it to be comprehensible, relevant and potentially useful in improving the quality of research proposals. However, a review of the submitted proposals suggested the guidance had had little impact on practice. While guidance may have a role to play, it will need to be strongly promoted by commissioners and other gatekeepers. Findings also suggest the possibility that guidance may discourage some researchers from engaging with ethnicity if it raises problems without solutions; highlighting the need for complementary investments in research capacity development in this area

Opioid overdose risk during and after drug treatment for heroin dependence: An incidence density case–control study nested in the VEdeTTE cohort

Introduction and Aims: To corroborate protective effects of a range of drug treatment modalities against overdose mortality risk. Design and Methods: Nested case–control study, with incidence density sampling, selecting controls retrospectively at each case event. Cases and controls came from a sub-cohort of opioid-dependent patients (n = 4444) from two Italian regions (Lazio and Piedmont). From 1998 to 2005, there were 91 overdose deaths (cases) matched to 352 controls. The primary outcome was overdose mortality and the primary exposure was drug treatment: opioid agonist treatment (OAT), opioid detoxification, residential community, psychosocial and other pharmacological treatment. Conditional logistic regression models generated intervention effects comparing mortality risk in and out of treatment, adjusting for confounding variables. Results: Overall, drug treatment reduced overdose mortality risk by 80% [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.10–0.33, P < 0.001] compared to being out of treatment. There was a particularly strong protective effect of OAT on overdose mortality (AOR 0.08, 95% CI 0.03–0.23, P < 0.001) compared to being out of treatment. There was evidence of a substantially elevated risk of overdose in the first month of leaving treatment (AOR 23.50, 95% CI 7.84–70.19, P < 0.001) compared to being in treatment. Discussion and Conclusions: The nested case–control design strengthened earlier findings that OAT in Italy has strong protective effects on overdose mortality risk, much stronger than has been previously seen in other Western European settings

Domestication as innovation : the entanglement of techniques, technology and chance in the domestication of cereal crops

The origins of agriculture involved pathways of domestication in which human behaviours and plant genetic adaptations were entangled. These changes resulted in consequences that were unintended at the start of the process. This paper highlights some of the key innovations in human behaviours, such as soil preparation, harvesting and threshing, and how these were coupled with genetic ‘innovations’ within plant populations. We identify a number of ‘traps’ for early cultivators, including the needs for extra labour expenditure on crop-processing and soil fertility maintenance, but also linked gains in terms of potential crop yields. Compilations of quantitative data across a few different crops for the traits of nonshattering and seed size are discussed in terms of the apparently slow process of domestication, and parallels and differences between different regional pathways are identified. We highlight the need to bridge the gap between a Neolithic archaeobotanical focus on domestication and a focus of later periods on crop-processing activities and labour organization. In addition, archaeobotanical data provide a basis for rethinking previous assumptions about how plant genetic data should be related to the origins of agriculture and we contrast two alternative hypotheses: gradual evolution with low selection pressure versus metastable equilibrium that prolonged the persistence of ‘semi-domesticated’ populations. Our revised understanding of the innovations involved in plant domestication highlight the need for new approaches to collecting, modelling and integrating genetic data and archaeobotanical evidence

Opioid agonist treatment and risk of death or rehospitalization following injection drug use–associated bacterial and fungal infections: A cohort study in New South Wales, Australia

Background AU Injecting-related: Pleaseconfirmthatallheadinglevelsarerepresentedcorrectly bacterial and fungal infections are associated : with significant morbidity and mortality among people who inject drugs (PWID), and they are increasing in incidence. Following hospitalization with an injecting-related infection, use of opioid agonist treatment (OAT; methadone or buprenorphine) may be associated with reduced risk of death or rehospitalization with an injecting-related infection. Methods and findings Data came from the Opioid Agonist Treatment Safety (OATS) study, an administrative linkage cohort including all people in New South Wales, Australia, who accessed OAT between July 1, 2001 and June 28, 2018. Included participants survived a hospitalization with injecting-related infections (i.e., skin and soft-tissue infection, sepsis/bacteremia, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, or epidural/brain abscess). Outcomes were all-cause death and rehospitalization for injecting-related infections. OAT exposure was classified as time varying by days on or off treatment, following hospital discharge. We used separate Cox proportional hazards models to assess associations between each outcome and OAT exposure. The study included 8,943 participants (mean age 39 years, standard deviation [SD] 11 years; 34% women). The most common infections during participants’ index hospitalizations were skin and soft tissue (7,021; 79%), sepsis/bacteremia (1,207; 14%), and endocarditis (431; 5%). During median 6.56 years follow-up, 1,481 (17%) participants died; use of OAT was associated with lower hazard of death (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57 to 0.70). During median 3.41 years follow-up, 3,653 (41%) were rehospitalized for injecting-related infections; use of OAT was associated with lower hazard of these rehospitalizations (aHR 0.89, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.96). Study limitations include the use of routinely collected administrative data, which lacks information on other risk factors for injecting-related infections including injecting practices, injection stimulant use, housing status, and access to harm reduction services (e.g., needle exchange and supervised injecting sites); we also lacked information on OAT medication dosages. Conclusions Following hospitalizations with injection drug use–associated bacterial and fungal infections, use of OAT is associated with lower risks of death and recurrent injecting-related infections among people with opioid use disorder

Intra-amniotic delivery of CFTR-expressing adenovirus does not reverse cystic fibrosis phenotype in inbred CFTR-knockout mice

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright © 2008 The American Society of Gene Therapy.Due to its early onset and severe prognosis, cystic fibrosis (CF) has been suggested as a candidate disease for in utero gene therapy. In 1997, a study was published claiming that to how transient prenatal expression of CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) from an in utero –injected adenovirus vector could achieve permanent reversal of the CF intestinal pathology in adult CF knockout mice, despite the loss of CFTR transgene expression by birth. This would imply that the underlying cause of CF is a prenatal defect for which lifelong cure can be achieved by transient prenatal expression of CFTR. Despite criticism at the time of publication, no independent verification of this contentious finding has been published so far. This is vital for the development of future therapeutic strategies as it may determine whether CF gene therapy should be performed prenatally or postnatally. We therefore reinvestigated this finding with an identical adenoviral vector and a knockout CF mouse line (CftrtmlCam) with a completely inbred genetic background to eliminate any effects due to genetic variation. After delivery of the CFTR-expressing adenovirus to the fetal mouse, both vector DNA and transgenic CFTR expression were detected in treated animals postpartum but statistically no significant difference in survival was observed between the Cftr–/– mice treated with the CFTR-adenovirus and those treated with the control vector.Sport Aiding Medical Research for Kids, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and the Katharine Dormandy Trust

Effect of incarceration and opioid agonist treatment transitions on risk of hospitalisation with injection drug use-associated bacterial infections: A self-controlled case series in New South Wales, Australia

Background: Transitional times in opioid use, such as release from prison and discontinuation of opioid agonist treatment (OAT), are associated with health harms due to changing drug consumption practices and limited access to health and social supports. Using a self-controlled (within-person) study design, we aimed to understand if these transitions increase risks of injection drug use-associated bacterial infections. Methods: We performed a self-controlled case series among a cohort of people with opioid use disorder (who had all previously accessed OAT) in New South Wales, Australia, 2001-2018. The outcome was hospitalisation with injecting-related bacterial infections. We divided participants’ observed days into time windows related to incarceration and OAT receipt. We compared hospitalization rates during focal (exposure) windows and referent (control) windows (i.e., 5-52 weeks continuously not incarcerated or continuously receiving OAT). We estimated adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRR) using conditional logistic regression, adjusted for time-varying confounders. Results: There were 7590 participants who experienced hospitalisation with injecting-related bacterial infections (35% female; median age 38 years; 78% hospitalised with skin and soft-tissue infections). Risk for injecting-related bacterial infections was elevated for two weeks following release from prison (aIRR 1.45; 95%CI 1.22–1.72). Risk was increased during two weeks before (aIRR 1.89; 95%CI 1.59–2.25) and after (aIRR 1.91; 95%CI 1.54–2.36) discontinuation of OAT, and during two weeks before (aIRR 3.63; 95%CI 3.13–4.22) and after (aIRR 2.52; 95%CI 2.09–3.04) OAT initiation. Conclusion: Risk of injecting-related bacterial infections varies greatly within-individuals over time. Risk is raised immediately after prison release, and around initiation and discontinuation of OAT. Social contextual factors likely contribute to excess risks at transitions in incarceration and OAT exposure