Spitting images:remaking saliva as a promissory substance

Of the bodily substances in which STS scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, and medical historians have been interested, saliva has arguably been overlooked. Yet, in the past twenty years, saliva has become important to the development of consumer genetic tests. Historically, expectoration has been associated with the spread of disease and social indecency, but when the personal genomics company 23andMe began hosting spit parties in 2007, the act of spitting was transformed into an act of self-empowerment through which the individual gained new health information and saliva turned into a new biological source for measuring health and illness. Attending to saliva’s social meanings over time, and by analysing 23andMe “unboxing” YouTube videos, we argue that saliva has become a promissory substance whose place is no longer reserved only for the inner spaces of the body, but circulates outside the body, forming an important part of the contemporary bioeconomy

Impact of obesity and type 2 diabetes on health-related quality of life in the general population in England

Stephen CL Gough,1 Nana Kragh,2 Uffe Jon Ploug,2 Mette Hammer21University of Birmingham and University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK; 2Novo Nordisk A/S Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research Krogshojvej 55, DK-2880 Bagsvaerd, DenmarkBackground: Weight gain can contribute towards the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D), and some treatments for T2D can lead to weight gain. The aim of this study was to determine whether having T2D and also being obese had a greater or lesser impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) than having either of the two conditions alone.Methods: The 2003 dataset of the Health Survey for England (HSE) was analyzed using multiple regression analyses to examine the influence of obesity and T2D on HRQoL, and to determine whether there was any interaction between these two disutilities.Results: T2D reduced HRQoL by 0.029 points, and obesity reduced HRQoL by 0.027 points. There was no significant interaction effect between T2D and obesity, suggesting that the effect of having both T2D and being obese is simply additive and results in a reduction in HRQoL of 0.056.Conclusions: Based on analysis of HSE 2003 data, people with either T2D or obesity experience significant reduction in HRQoL and people with both conditions have a reduction in HRQoL equal to the sum of the two independent effects. The effect of obesity on HRQoL in people with T2D should be considered when selecting a therapy.Keywords: diabetes, health-related quality of life, obesity, type 2 diabetes, Englan

Spitting images:remaking saliva as a promissory substance

Of the bodily substances in which STS scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, and medical historians have been interested, saliva has arguably been overlooked. Yet, in the past twenty years, saliva has become important to the development of consumer genetic tests. Historically, expectoration has been associated with the spread of disease and social indecency, but when the personal genomics company 23andMe began hosting spit parties in 2007, the act of spitting was transformed into an act of self-empowerment through which the individual gained new health information and saliva turned into a new biological source for measuring health and illness. Attending to saliva’s social meanings over time, and by analysing 23andMe “unboxing” YouTube videos, we argue that saliva has become a promissory substance whose place is no longer reserved only for the inner spaces of the body, but circulates outside the body, forming an important part of the contemporary bioeconomy

Mode of Delivery according to Leisure Time Physical Activity before and during Pregnancy:A Multicenter Cohort Study of Low-Risk Women

Objectives. To examine the association between maternal leisure time physical activity and mode of delivery. Study Design. Population-based multicentre cohort. From the Danish Dystocia Study, we included 2,435 nulliparous women, who delivered a singleton infant in cephalic presentation at term after spontaneous onset of labor in 2004-2005. We analysed mode of delivery according to self-reported physical activity at four stages, that is, the year before pregnancy and during first, second, and third trimester, in logistic regression models. Further, we combined physical activity measures at all four stages in one variable for a proportional odds model for cumulative logits. Main Outcome Measures. Mode of delivery (emergency caesarean section; vacuum extractor; spontaneous vaginal delivery). Results. The odds of emergency caesarean section decreased with increasing levels of physical activity with statistically significant trends at all four time stages except the third trimester. This tendency was confirmed in the proportional odds model showing 28% higher odds of a more complicated mode of delivery among women with a low activity level compared to moderately active women. Conclusions. We found increasing leisure time physical activity before and during pregnancy associated with a less complicated delivery among low-risk, nulliparous women

Electricity as (big) data:metering, spatiotemporal granularity and value

Electricity is hidden within wires and networks only revealing its quantity and flow when metered. The making of its properties into data is therefore particularly important to the relations that are formed around electricity as a produced and managed phenomenon. We propose approaching all metering as a situated activity, a form of quantification work in which data is made and becomes mobile in particular spatial and temporal terms, enabling its entry into data infrastructures and schemes of evaluation and value production. We interrogate the transition from the pre-digital into the making of bigger, more spatiotemporally granular electricity data, through focusing on those actors selling and materialising new metering technologies, data infrastructures and services for larger businesses and public sector organisations in the UK. We examine the claims of truth and visibility that accompany these shifts and their enrolment into management techniques that serve to more precisely apportion responsibility for, and evaluate the status of, particular patterns and instances of electricity use. We argue that whilst through becoming big data electricity flow is now able to be known and given identity in significantly new terms, enabling new relations to be formed with the many heterogeneous entities implicated in making and managing energy demand, it is necessary to sustain some ambivalence as to the performative consequences that follow for energy governance. We consider the wider application of our conceptualisation of metering, reflecting on comparisons with the introduction of new metering systems in domestic settings and as part of other infrastructural network

Development and validation of the Treatment Related Impact Measure of Weight (TRIM-Weight)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The use of prescription anti-obesity medication (AOM) is becoming increasingly common as treatment options grow and become more accessible. However, AOM may not be without a wide range of potentially negative impacts on patient functioning and well being. The Treatment Related Impact Measure (TRIM-Weight) is an obesity treatment-specific patient reported outcomes (PRO) measure designed to assess the key impacts of prescription anti-obesity medication. This paper will present the validation findings for the TRIM-Weight.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The online validation battery survey was administered in four countries (the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada). Eligible subjects were over age eighteen, currently taking a prescription AOM and were currently or had been obese during their life. Validation analyses were conducted according to an <it>a priori </it>statistical analysis plan. Item level psychometric and conceptual criteria were used to refine and reduce the preliminary item pool and factor analysis to identify structural domains was performed. Reliability and validity testing was then performed and the minimally importance difference (MID) explored.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two hundred and eight subjects completed the survey. Twenty-one of the 43 items were dropped and a five-factor structure was achieved: Daily Life, Weight Management, Treatment Burden, Experience of Side Effects, and Psychological Health. <it>A-priori </it>criteria for internal consistency and test-retest coefficients for the total score and all five subscales were met. All pre-specified hypotheses for convergent and known group validity were also met with the exception of the domain of Daily Life (proven in an ad hoc analysis) as well as the 1/2 standard deviation threshold for the MID.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The development and validation of the TRIM-Weight has been conducted according to well-defined principles for the creation of a PRO measure. Based on the evidence to date, the TRIM-Weight can be considered a brief, conceptually sound, valid and reliable PRO measure.</p

The Craft of Research

Der er voksende utilfredshed med de studerendes akademiske kompetencer på universiteterne. De er kun i ringe grad i stand til at udtrykke sig klart på skrift, siges det. De er overfladiske i deres informationssøgning og læser i øvrigt ikke gerne længere, faglige tekster. Aftagerne er ikke tilfredse med kvaliteten af dimittenderne, og de studerende er heller ikke selv tilfredse med, at der ikke i højere grad stilles krav til deres aktive deltagelse i undervisningen. Disse bekymringer er jo ikke nye og ligner en almindelig bekymring om ”ungdommen” i dag. De spiller computerspil i stedet for at læse bøger og skriver Facebook-opdateringer i stedet for faglige essays

The Production of Infrastructure Value and the extension of the electricity grid : demand-side response and aggregators as temporal prospectors

Infrastructures have recently been conceptualised as in process and dynamic rather than fixed and obdurate. We introduce the notion of infrastructural value to draw attention to the specific value that can be produced in something in relation to its participation in an infrastructure, its operation and management. We analyse demand-side response (DSR) as a case of infrastructural extension where value is produced in already-existing electricity consuming devices, generating a return for their response to the ends of grid management. We track the work of aggregators who enrol clients and their devices into providing combined synchronised responses contracted with the grid operator. This involves aggregators in activities of temporal prospecting, legitimation, optimisation and coordination. We argue that the notion of infrastructural value helps to articulate the relations between the fluidity and flexing of infrastructural boundaries and value making practices and consider other ways that this category of value might be explore

Biosensing:how citizens’ views illuminate emerging health and social risks

This article explores material from a citizen’s inquiry into the social and ethical implications of health biosensors. In ‘Our Bodies, Our Data’ a space was afforded for members of the public to examine two forms of health biosensing, and for the authors to research what happens when such examination shifts from the domain of experts to that of citizens. Drawing on data from this inquiry, which forms part of a wider research project, ‘Living Data: making sense of health biosensors’, we open up conceptual and methodological questions about how to study innovative health technologies and contribute to debates about the direction of health biosensing by bringing forward the views of a group rarely heard in this domain: the public. The panel of 15 participants was shown examples, handled devices, and heard evidence about the development of home ovulation monitoring and direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Citizens identified key areas of concern around the development, design and marketing of these devices, implicating technology companies, public bodies and civil society organisations. The panel articulated serious concerns relating to ethics, trust, accountability, quality and governance of health biosensors that operate ‘outside the clinic’. Their deliberations reflect concern for what kind of society is being made when genetic testing and home reproductive technologies are promoted and sold directly to the public. The panel process allowed us to re-imagine biosensors, wresting their narratives from the individualising discourses of selfoptimisation and responsibilisation which have dominated their introduction in EuroUS markets

The Development of Severe Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia due to Anti-HPA-1a Antibodies Is Correlated to Maternal ABO Genotypes

Background. Maternal alloantibodies against HPA-1a can cross placenta, opsonize foetal platelets, and induce neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT). In a study of 100, 448 pregnant women in Norway during 1995–2004, 10.6% of HPA-1a negative women had detectable anti-HPA-1a antibodies. Design and Methods. A possible correlation between the maternal ABO blood group phenotype, or underlying genotype, and severe thrombocytopenia in the newborn was investigated. Results. We observed that immunized women with blood group O had a lower risk of having a child with severe NAIT than women with group A; 20% with blood group O gave birth to children with severe NAIT, compared to 47% among the blood group A mothers (relative risk 0.43; 95% CI 0.25–0.75). Conclusion. The risk of severe neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia due to anti-HPA-1a antibodies is correlated to maternal ABO types, and this study indicates that the observation is due to genetic properties on the maternal side