Not hearing us: An exploration of the experience of deaf prisoners in English and Welsh prisons

This research explores the experiences of profoundly deaf prisoners in England and Wales. It analyses current provisions for deaf prisoners and uses interviews and case studies to investigate the manner in which provision is delivered in order to make a set of recommendations for improving the treatment of deaf people in prison

Analysing understandings of 'rough sleeping': managing, becoming and being homeless

This research considers the ways in which the lives of rough sleepers are understood. In doing so, it considers the ways in which rough sleepers are positioned by services, the ways in which rough sleepers account for their own lives, and the ways in which rough sleepers negotiate and manage their day-to-day experiences. Analysing previous literature and policy, the research claims that lives might be better understood using a narrative approach alongside other methods. Therefore, it employs methods of life mapping and auto-photography with rough sleepers, alongside participant observation and semi-structured interviews with service providers. These methods aided the understanding of the ways in which each group understands rough sleepers’ lives. The research finds that in contrast to policy and service provider discourses, which often focus on deficits, discourses of poor decision making in ideas of causation, and dichotomies of deservingness, rough sleepers’ own accounts focus on the importance of context to develop an understanding of the importance of key life events. Furthermore, the research suggests that understandings of rough sleepers’ lives presented in policy and service provider discourses which see these lives as ‘chaotic’, ‘off track’ and ‘failed’ are in stark contrast to rough sleepers own accounts, which entail elements of order, success, and aspirations. In considering these alternative approaches to understanding the lives of rough sleepers, the study proposes that narrative approaches to engaging with rough sleepers, which recognise the agency that rough sleepers have, could provide a way to better understand the ways in which rough sleepers understand their own lives

Genome-wide mapping reveals single-origin chromosome replication in Leishmania, a eukaryotic microbe

Background DNA replication initiates on defined genome sites, termed origins. Origin usage appears to follow common rules in the eukaryotic organisms examined to date: all chromosomes are replicated from multiple origins, which display variations in firing efficiency and are selected from a larger pool of potential origins. To ask if these features of DNA replication are true of all eukaryotes, we describe genome-wide origin mapping in the parasite Leishmania. Results Origin mapping in Leishmania suggests a striking divergence in origin usage relative to characterized eukaryotes, since each chromosome appears to be replicated from a single origin. By comparing two species of Leishmania, we find evidence that such origin singularity is maintained in the face of chromosome fusion or fission events during evolution. Mapping Leishmania origins suggests that all origins fire with equal efficiency, and that the genomic sites occupied by origins differ from related non-origins sites. Finally, we provide evidence that origin location in Leishmania displays striking conservation with Trypanosoma brucei, despite the latter parasite replicating its chromosomes from multiple, variable strength origins. Conclusions The demonstration of chromosome replication for a single origin in Leishmania, a microbial eukaryote, has implications for the evolution of origin multiplicity and associated controls, and may explain the pervasive aneuploidy that characterizes Leishmania chromosome architecture

Eastern Asian emissions of anthropogenic halocarbons deduced from aircraft concentration data

The Montreal Protocol restricts production of ozone-depleting halocarbons worldwide. Enforcement of the protocol has relied mainly on annual government statistics of production and consumption of these compounds (bottom-up approach). We show here that aircraft observations of halocarbon:CO enhancement ratios on regional to continental scales can be used to infer halocarbon emissions, providing independent verification of the bottom-up approach. We apply this top-down approach to aircraft observations of Asian outflow from the TRACE-P mission over the western Pacific (March April 2001) and derive emissions from eastern Asia (China, Japan, and Korea). We derive an eastern Asian carbon tetrachloride (CCl ) source of 21.5 Gg yr , several-fold larger than previous estimates and amounting to 30% of the global budget for this gas. Our emission estimate for CFC-11 from eastern Asia is 50% higher than inventories derived from manufacturing records. Our emission estimates for methyl chloroform (CH ) and CFC-12 are in agreement with existing inventories. For halon 1211 we find only a strong local source originating from the Shanghai area. Our emission estimates for the above gases result in a 40% increase in the ozone depletion potential (ODP) of Asian emissions relative to previous estimates, corresponding to a 10% global increase in ODP

The empirical failure of the expectations hypothesis of the term structure of bond yields

This paper tests the expectations hypothesis (EH) using U.S. monthly data for bond yields spanning the 1952–2003 sample period and ranging in maturity from one month to 10 years. We apply the Lagrange multiplier test developed by Bekaert and Hodrick (2001) and extend it to increase the test power by introducing economic variables as conditioning information and by using more than two bond yields in the model and testing the EH jointly on more than one pair of yields. While the conventional bivariate procedure provides mixed results, the more powerful testing procedures suggest rejection of the EH throughout the maturity spectrum examined

Diverged composition and regulation of the Trypanosoma brucei origin recognition complex that mediates DNA replication initiation

Initiation of DNA replication depends upon recognition of genomic sites, termed origins, by AAA+ ATPases. In prokaryotes a single factor binds each origin, whereas in eukaryotes this role is played by a six-protein origin recognition complex (ORC). Why eukaryotes evolved a multisubunit initiator, and the roles of each component, remains unclear. In Trypanosoma brucei, an ancient unicellular eukaryote, only one ORC-related initiator, TbORC1/CDC6, has been identified by sequence homology. Here we show that three TbORC1/CDC6-interacting factors also act in T. brucei nuclear DNA replication and demonstrate that TbORC1/CDC6 interacts in a high molecular complex in which a diverged Orc4 homologue and one replicative helicase subunit can also be found. Analysing the subcellular localization of four TbORC1/CDC6-interacting factors during the cell cycle reveals that one factor, TbORC1B, is not a static constituent of ORC but displays S-phase restricted nuclear localization and expression, suggesting it positively regulates replication. This work shows that ORC architecture and regulation are diverged features of DNA replication initiation in T. brucei, providing new insight into this key stage of eukaryotic genome copying

Homelessness and mortality: an extraordinary or unextraordinary phenomenon?

In this article we explore the vicissitudes of extraordinariness in relation to homelessness and mortality in Britain. Death and its threat are a constant presence in the lives of people experiencing homelessness, but despite the established fact that homeless populations have a far lower life expectancy than the general population, mortality is rarely considered as part of the homelessness plight, nor is it fully acknowledged or understood in official spheres. This article explores the ways in which homelessness and mortality are constructed as an unpreventable phenomenon, not deserving of any meaningful political intervention. Drawing on the conceptual framework of ‘organised abandonment’, we argue that the invisibility of homeless people in death can be linked to their invisibility in life. In so doing, we underline the minimalist policy frameworks and the expansion of anti-homeless campaigns, which, to different extents, result in the exclusion of homeless individuals and families. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the risk of death affecting homeless groups was responded to as an extraordinary social and political problem, requiring maximum political intervention. While remaining cognisant of the limitations of the extraordinary homelessness and housing policy measures brought in during this time, we argue that there are key possibilities to be explored within those policy responses

Intrinsic Anthropometric Factors Associated with Bone Stress Injuries in Collegiate Runners: New Risk Metrics & Novel Field Screening Tools

Lower extremity bone stress injuries (BSI) (i.e. pelvis, femur, tibia) are common in distance running athletes relative to other sports. PURPOSE: To (1) characterize bone mineral density (BMD), body composition (BComp, DXA), and anthropometric parameters in D1A collegiate runners presenting with and without BSIs during a collegiate season and (2) develop BMD prediction models with an accompanying mobile application for novel noninvasive field prediction of BMD and BSI risk. METHODS: Distance runners (n = 79; 42♂, 37♀) from a single university track and field team were retrospectively enrolled into study. The runners completed a DXA scan during fall screening (August-November). Three months after scanning, medical records were reviewed for the occurrence of BSI confirmed by a licensed physician. A t-test was used to compare BMD (total and regional [spine, pelvis, and legs]), BComp (% body fat, fat mass, and lean mass), and anthropometric measurements (shoulder width and leg, arm, and trunk length) between runners with versus without BSI (included subgroup analysis by sex). Multiple linear regression with stepwise removal was used to determine variables most predictive of BMD. Xcode (Apple Inc.) was used to develop the mobile application based on the derived BMD prediction models utilizing lower-bound 95% confidence intervals for runner-specific BMD norms as risk cutoffs. RESULTS: Eighteen runners (22.8%; 11♀, 7♂) sustained a lower limb BSI. Compared to the noninjured group (NoBSI), injured runners (BSI) had lower total BMD (NoBSI: 1.24 0.02, BSI: 1.15 0.04, p\u3c0.001) and regional BMD (spine -11%, legs -9%, pelvis -10%, p\u3c0.001). Injured athletes were observed to have shorter leg length (NoBSI: 95.6 1.4cm, BSI: 91.9 2.6cm, p=0.015) and arm length (NoBSI: 56.1 0.8, BSI: 53.8 1.5, p=0.006). Injured males had lower fat mass (NoBSI: 7.7 0.5kg, BSI: 6.4 0.7cm, p=0.041) and injured females had lower leg lean mass (NoBSI: 14.7 0.6kg, BSI: 13.5 0.7kg, p=0.035). BComp and anthropometric measures were predictive of bone mass (p\u3c0.05, R2 =0.61; SE= ±0.27kg) and BMD (Total: p\u3c0.05, R2 =0.77; SE= ±0.05g/cm2). BONE MASS, kg = (0.046 x Ageyears) +(0.024 x Weightkg) +(0.014 x %BodyFat) +(-0.017 x Arm Lengthcm) +(0.017 x Shoulder Widthcm) +(-0.009 x Trunk Lengthcm) +(0.037 x Leg Lengthcm) -2.867] | BMD, g cm2 =(-0.011 x %BodyFat) + (0.016 x Fat Mass kg) + (0.203 x Bone Masskg) +(-0.003 x Leg Lengthcm) +1.023. The mobile application was able to successfully run the developed prediction models for BMD assessment. CONCLUSION: Collegiate distance runners with shorter limb lengths, reduced fat mass(♂), reduced leg lean mass(♀), and lower BMD are at an increased risk for a lower extremity BSI. BComp and anthropometric measures are predictive of BMD in this population and may be utilized with the mobile application developed here as a screening tool to identify potentially “at-risk” runners

Anthropometric Factors Associated With Bone Stress Injuries in Collegiate Distance Runners: New Risk Metrics and Screening Tools?

Background: Lower limb bone stress injury (BSI) of the pelvis, femur, and tibia is prevalent in collegiate track and field distance runners. Bone mineral density (BMD), body composition (BComp), and anthropometric parameters before initial collegiate injury have not been compared between runners with BSI and their noninjured counterparts. Purpose: To characterize bone health in relation to BComp and anthropometric measurements from total-body dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans in collegiate male and female distance runners before BSI and develop BMD prediction models. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Distance runners (N = 79) from a single university track and field team were retrospectively enrolled into this study. The runners completed a DXA scan during the fall season (August-November) and participated in sport activities before the scan. Three months after scanning, electronic medical records were reviewed for the occurrence of BSI. An independent-sample t test was used to compare BMD (total and regional [spine, pelvis, and legs]), BComp (% body fat, fat mass, and lean mass), and anthropometric measurements (shoulder width and leg, arm, and trunk length) between runners with versus without BSI (included subgroup analysis by sex). Multiple linear regression with stepwise removal was used to determine variables most predictive of BMD. Results: Of the 79 enrolled participants (42 male, 37 female), 18 runners (22.8%; 11 female, 7 male) sustained a lower limb BSI. Compared with the noninjured group, injured runners had lower total and regional BMD (P < .001 for all) and shorter leg and arm lengths (P < .05 for both), whereas injured male runners had lower fat mass and injured female runners had lower lean mass in the legs (P < .05 for both). Injured runners’ age-matched total BMD Z score (-0.1 ± 0.6) was considered clinically normal. BComp and anthropometric measures were predictive of total and regional BMD (P < .05; R 2 = 0.64-0.80; percentage error = 3.8%-4.8%). Conclusion: The DXA scans of injured runners prior to incidence indicated lower BMD compared with noninjured runners. Shorter limb lengths, lower fat mass (male), and lower leg lean mass (female) may also be indicative of risk. Certain BComp and anthropometric measures were predictive of BMD