The dynamic performance of identity work

As a phenomenon socially constructed and performed through relationships (Ainsworth and Hardy, 2004, Cunliffe, 2008, Beech, 2008), self-identity is inextricably dependent on interpersonal interactions and social contexts (Kondo, 1990, Kondrat, 1999, Ybema et al., 2009). Thus “selves and identities are ‘performed within relationships’, ‘done in interactions’ and/or ‘talked into being’” (Smith and Sparkes, 2008, p.25). As this suggests, identity is performative (Butler, 1990, Smith and Sparkes, 2008) and, therefore, identity work becomes an important feature of the way in which individuals strive to enact, and become, their identity (Kärreman and Alvesson, 2001, Down and Reveley, 2009

Language games : a productive metaphor for discursive research?

This paper lays the analytic framework for ongoing research into the use of the term “leadership” by practitioners of Agile project management. Taking inspiration from Wittgenstein’s entreaty to “struggle against the bewitchment of our understanding by the resources of our language” (2009, p. 52, §109), we might operationalise his notion of “objects of comparison”. Synthesising work from critical discourse analysis, and narrative analysis, we detail a proposed framework through which we might examine the diverse – potentially divergent – ways in which language furnishes us with a depth grammar through which we articulate self, other and world. At conference, we will draw upon publicly available ‘experience reports’ (a form of autobiographical reflective text) produced by practitioners of the Agile project management methodology to unpack the amorphous notion of ‘Leadership in Agile teams’. The paper concludes with reflections on the method’s potential as a means for opening dialogue with practitioners

Sensuous intoxication:Learning from bodies in organisational ethnography

An increasing number of management articles have focused on embodied ethnography in terms of either understanding other bodies at work or how our own bodies as researchers inform knowledge. In advancing this latter approach, we argue for an embodiment that sensually intoxicates our bodies, enabling new forms of learning to emerge. To grow this understanding, we draw on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concept 'le schéma corporel', a shared physiognomy of the senses. This concept informs a corporeal methodology which details three organisational depictions that emerge from a season long immersion in a professional rugby team. We illustrate how the Will was corporeally apprenticed in this setting through an understanding of the body as situated, emotional and physical. The article concludes by suggesting it is the researcher's own body that is the site of learning, providing a sense to the reader of the pain, touch and sound of professional rugby

Making the kettle boil Rights talk and political mobilisation around electricity and water services in Soweto

Faculty of Humanities School of Humanities and Social Sciences 0200487m [email protected] dissertation looks at the attitudes, actions and opinions towards law, rights and political mobilisation, and in particular South Africa’s Bill of Rights, of a small band of activists associated with the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC). It provides a snapshot of attitudes towards the Bill of Rights prevalent at the birth of a small organisation, which since 2000 has been active and at times successful in guaranteeing affordable electricity in South Africa’s largest township - Soweto. The SECC emerged as a real force in Johannesburg’s political life in the first half of 2001 as a result of the disconnection of up to 20,000 households per month by the state owned electricity utility, ESKOM. In response to these cut-offs Sowetans required urgent and appropriate forms of political action that would both provide immediate relief in terms of reconnecting disconnected households to the grid, wiping off unpayable electricity account arrears and, over the longer term, mitigating or transforming the policies that led to the cut-offs. This study explores to what extent the Bill of Rights enhanced grass roots political mobilisation. The study describes the potential mechanism through which rights discourse promotes community mobilization and provide some preliminary comments on the appropriateness of legal mobilization for political ends. This focus on electricity enabled understanding of how a community based organisation strategised social mobilisation when a particular demand, in this case an essential service - electricity - is not explicitly included in the South African Bill of Rights. Specifically it allowed the study of strategies adopted to prosecute similar demands surrounding access to water, which was explicitly included in the Constitution. In this case the SECC strategy was to deliberately obscure the boundaries between the two services. Rights talk was adopted by the SECC to serve political ends. The need of Sowetans for reliable, consistent and affordable supplies of electricity was transformed and demanded as of right by the SECC. Such a characterisation had obvious advantages to the SECC activists trying to build a movement that could challenge Eskom’s and the municipal government’s credit control policies. Rights talk provided a catalyst to engage interest in the campaign. On attracting an audience by ‘rights talk’ the allegation that service disconnection denied ‘fundamental human rights’ tapped into already existing feelings of hurt and humiliation. Rights talk legitimated peoples private feelings of pain and humiliation. The evolving sense of outrage as a result of this denial was then directed (hopefully) towards involvement in protests and meetings. The themes present in the writings of critical legal theorists on rights are explored. This study found that the key tenets of critical legal theory’s critique of rights such as the malleability and indeterminacy of legal discourse to suit your own ends; the tilt within the legal system to already powerful interests within South African society; and the risks of constitutional litigation to the democratic character of the struggle were all present in the minds of activists. Yet ultimately legal strategies were of ongoing interest to SECC activists because of the undeniable potential leverage they provided to promote social mobilisation and allow for real changes in harmful government policies through the assistance of the courts. These potential uses outweighed the identified attendant risks of a constitutional litigation strategy. This study concludes that rights can form an important component of the progressive activists arsenal of weapons against liberal capitalism. This is both understandable in a short-term strategic sense (as implied above in the SECC’s use of rights) as well as a more complex longer-term project of building a better society

Culture of airway epithelial cells from neonates sampled within 48-hours of birth

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Secukinumab versus adalimumab for psoriatic arthritis: comparative effectiveness up to 48 weeks using a matching-adjusted indirect comparison

Secukinumab and adalimumab are approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA). In the absence of direct randomized controlled trial (RCT) data, matching-adjusted indirect comparison can estimate the comparative effectiveness in anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-naïve populations. Individual patient data from the FUTURE 2 RCT (secukinumab vs. placebo; N = 299) were adjusted to match baseline characteristics of the ADEPT RCT (adalimumab vs. placebo; N = 313). Logistic regression determined adjustment weights for age, body weight, sex, race, methotrexate use, psoriasis affecting ≥ 3% of body surface area, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score, Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index score, presence of dactylitis and enthesitis, and previous anti-TNF therapy. Recalculated secukinumab outcomes were compared with adalimumab outcomes at weeks 12 (placebo-adjusted), 16, 24, and 48 (nonplacebo-adjusted). After matching, the effective sample size for FUTURE 2 was 101. Week 12 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) response rates were not significantly different between secukinumab and adalimumab. Week 16 ACR 20 and 50 response rates were higher for secukinumab 150 mg than for adalimumab (P = 0.017, P = 0.033), as was ACR 50 for secukinumab 300 mg (P = 0.030). Week 24 ACR 20 and 50 were higher for secukinumab 150 mg than for adalimumab (P = 0.001, P = 0.019), as was ACR 20 for secukinumab 300 mg (P = 0.048). Week 48 ACR 20 was higher for secukinumab 150 and 300 mg than for adalimumab (P = 0.002, P = 0.027), as was ACR 50 for secukinumab 300 mg (P = 0.032). In our analysis, patients with PsA receiving secukinumab were more likely to achieve higher ACR responses through 1 year (weeks 16-48) than those treated with adalimumab. Although informative, these observations rely on a subgroup of patients from FUTURE 2 and thus should be considered interim until the ongoing head-to-head RCT EXCEED can validate these findings. Novartis Pharma AG

Supporting families of patients who die in adult intensive care : A scoping review of interventions

Background Families who perceive themselves as prepared for an impending death experience reduced psychological burden during bereavement. Understanding which interventions promote death preparedness in families during end-of-life care in intensive care will inform future intervention development and may help limit the burden of psychological symptoms associated with bereavement. Aim To identify and characterise interventions that help prepare families for the possibility of death in intensive care, incorporating barriers to intervention implementation, outcome variables and instruments used. Design Scoping review using Joanna Briggs methodology, prospectively registered and reported using relevant guidelines. Data sources A systematic search of six databases from 2007 to 2023 for randomised controlled trials evaluating interventions that prepared families of intensive care patients for the possibility of death. Citations were screened against the inclusion criteria and extracted by two reviewers independently. Results Seven trials met eligibility criteria. Interventions were classified: decision support, psychoeducation, information provision. Psychoeducation involving physician-led family conference, emotional support and written information reduced symptoms of anxiety, depression, prolonged grief, and post-traumatic stress in families during bereavement. Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress were assessed most frequently. Barriers and facilitators to intervention implementation were seldom reported. Conclusion This review provides a conceptual framework of interventions to prepare families for death in intensive care, while highlighting a gap in rigorously conducted empirical research in this area. Future research should focus on theoretically informed, family-clinician communication, and explore the benefits of integrating existing multidisciplinary palliative care guidelines to deliver family conference within intensive care. Implications for clinical practice Intensive care clinicians should consider innovative communication strategies to build family-clinician connectedness in remote pandemic conditions. To prepare families for an impending death, mnemonic guided physician-led family conference and printed information could be implemented to prepare families for death, dying and bereavement. Mnemonic guided emotional support during dying and family conference after death may also assist families seeking closure

Assessing meiofaunal variation among individuals utilising morphological and molecular approaches: an example using the Tardigrada

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Meiofauna – multicellular animals captured between sieve size 45 μm and 1000 μm – are a fundamental component of terrestrial, and marine benthic ecosystems, forming an integral element of food webs, and playing a critical roll in nutrient recycling. Most phyla have meiofaunal representatives and studies of these taxa impact on a wide variety of sub-disciplines as well as having social and economic implications. However, studies of variation in meiofauna are presented with several important challenges. Isolating individuals from a sample substrate is a time consuming process, and identification requires increasingly scarce taxonomic expertise. Finding suitable morphological characters in many of these organisms is often difficult even for experts. Molecular markers are extremely useful for identifying variation in morphologically conserved organisms. However, for many species markers need to be developed <it>de novo</it>, while DNA can often only be extracted from pooled samples in order to obtain sufficient quantity and quality. Importantly, multiple independent markers are required to reconcile gene evolution with species evolution. In this primarily methodological paper we provide a proof of principle of a novel and effective protocol for the isolation of meiofauna from an environmental sample. We also go on to illustrate examples of the implications arising from subsequent screening for genetic variation at the level of the individual using ribosomal, mitochondrial and single copy nuclear markers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To isolate individual tardigrades from their habitat substrate we used a non-toxic density gradient media that did not interfere with downstream biochemical processes. Using a simple DNA release technique and nested polymerase chain reaction with universal primers we were able amplify multi-copy and, to some extent, single copy genes from individual tardigrades. Maximum likelihood trees from ribosomal 18S, mitochondrial <it>cytochrome oxidase subunit </it>1, and the single copy nuclear gene <it>Wingless </it>support a recent study indicating that the family Hypsibiidae is a non-monophyletic group. From these sequences we were able to detect variation between individuals at each locus that allowed us to identify the presence of cryptic taxa that would otherwise have been overlooked.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Molecular results obtained from individuals, rather than pooled samples, are a prerequisite to enable levels of variation to be placed into context. In this study we have provided a proof of principle of this approach for meiofaunal tardigrades, an important group of soil biota previously not considered amenable to such studies, thereby paving the way for more comprehensive phylogenetic studies using multiple nuclear markers, and population genetic studies.</p