Diasporic Dreams, Middle Class Moralities and Migrant Domestic Workers among Muslim Filipinos in Saudi Arabia

This paper is about middle-class Muslim Filipinos in Saudi Arabia and their discourses about and relationships with migrant domestic workers. Saudi Arabia is not simply a temporary stopping point to a better future elsewhere, but is also a place where the middle-class aspirations of Muslim Filipinos may be realised and where their religious affiliations as Muslims may be seen as enhancing rather than detracting from those dreams and imaginings. As part of a large and diverse diasporic community, middle-class Filipinos routinely interact and socialise with working-class Filipinos. They often provide succour and support for their compatriots who labour under difficult and legally unprotected conditions. Some employ migrant domestic workers in their homes, many of whom are irregular or takas (escapees). At the same time, they reproduce and reinforce many of the gendered stereotypes of domestic workers that often suggest moral failings of one sort or another. The simultaneous embracing of and distancing from domestic workers reflects the anxieties of those, particularly women, whose tenuous hold of middle-class status is accomplished through, but also put at risk by, the precariousness of their sojourns abroad in the Kingdom

Clinical trial results in context: comparison of baseline characteristics and outcomes of 38,510 RECOVERY trial participants versus a reference population of 346,271 people hospitalised with COVID-19 in England

Background: Randomised trials are essential to reliably assess medical interventions. Nevertheless, interpretation of such studies, particularly when considering absolute effects, is enhanced by understanding how the trial population may differ from the populations it aims to represent. Methods: We compared baseline characteristics and mortality of RECOVERY participants recruited in England (n = 38,510) with a reference population hospitalised with COVID-19 in England (n = 346,271) from March 2020 to November 2021. We used linked hospitalisation and mortality data for both cohorts to extract demographics, comorbidity/frailty scores, and crude and age- and sex-adjusted 28-day all-cause mortality. Results: Demographics of RECOVERY participants were broadly similar to the reference population, but RECOVERY participants were younger (mean age [standard deviation]: RECOVERY 62.6 [15.3] vs reference 65.7 [18.5] years) and less frequently female (37% vs 45%). Comorbidity and frailty scores were lower in RECOVERY, but differences were attenuated after age stratification. Age- and sex-adjusted 28-day mortality declined over time but was similar between cohorts across the study period (RECOVERY 23.7% [95% confidence interval: 23.3–24.1%]; vs reference 24.8% [24.6–25.0%]), except during the first pandemic wave in the UK (March–May 2020) when adjusted mortality was lower in RECOVERY. Conclusions: Adjusted 28-day mortality in RECOVERY was similar to a nationwide reference population of patients admitted with COVID-19 in England during the same period but varied substantially over time in both cohorts. Therefore, the absolute effect estimates from RECOVERY were broadly applicable to the target population at the time but should be interpreted in the light of current mortality estimates. Trial registration: ISRCTN50189673- Feb. 04, 2020, NCT04381936- May 11, 2020

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Computer simulation of small molecules adsorbed on graphite

Computer simulations of carbon tetraflouride, at sub commensurate monolayer coverages, on the basal plane of graphite have been performed using the molecular dynamics technique. A potential model has been developed which reproduces the experimentally observed melting temperature and the correct solid structure prior to melting. The time dependent, and time averaged, translational and orientational order of the solid phases of carbon tetraflouride on graphite have been investigated. The structure of patches at low temperature has been compared to structures proposed from the interpretation of experimental data. The link cell algorithm for molecular dynamics has been modified for use on shared memory parallel computers. When using short range potentials this algorithm is shown to achieve performance levels greater than those possible on traditional vector supercomputers. The performance of the algorithm is shown to scale linearly when the number of processors applied to the problem is changed. The parallel molecular dynamics code has been modified to perform simulations of nitrogen adsorbed on graphite. Large scale simulations of patches at coverages slightly above the commensurate monolayer density have allowed the investigation of the formation, and structure, of domain walls. Translational and orientational order of molecules in these systems has been studied. The free energy difference been two proposed structures for the domain walls has been calculated. Results are compared to experimental observations and simulations of domain walls of krypton adsorbed on graphite. Simulations performed at higher densities have been compared with experimental data in an attempt to confirm the interpretation of the LEED measurements.</p

Molecular profiling identifies targeted therapy opportunities in pediatric solid cancer

To evaluate the clinical impact of molecular tumor profiling (MTP) with targeted sequencing panel tests, pediatric patients with extracranial solid tumors were enrolled in a prospective observational cohort study at 12 institutions. In the 345-patient analytical population, median age at diagnosis was 12 years (range 0-27.5); 298 patients (86%) had 1 or more alterations with potential for impact on care. Genomic alterations with diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic significance were present in 61, 16 and 65% of patients, respectively. After return of the results, impact on care included 17 patients with a clarified diagnostic classification and 240 patients with an MTP result that could be used to select molecularly targeted therapy matched to identified alterations (MTT). Of the 29 patients who received MTT, 24% had an objective response or experienced durable clinical benefit; all but 1 of these patients received targeted therapy matched to a gene fusion. Of the diagnostic variants identified in 209 patients, 77% were gene fusions. MTP with targeted panel tests that includes fusion detection has a substantial clinical impact for young patients with solid tumors

Legacy data sharing to improve drug safety assessment: The eTOX project

The sharing of legacy preclinical safety data among pharmaceutical companies and its integration with other information sources offers unprecedented opportunities to improve the early assessment of drug safety. Here, we discuss the experience of the eTOX project, which was established through the Innovative Medicines Initiative to explore this possibility