‘You're looking for different parts in a jigsaw’: foetal MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) as an emerging technology in professional practice

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was first introduced into clinical practice during the 1980s. Originally used as a diagnostic tool to take pictures of the brain, spine, and joints, it is now used to visualise a range of organs and soft tissue around the body. Developments in clinical applications of the technology are rapid and it is often viewed as the ‘gold standard’ in many areas of medicine. However, most existing sociological work on MRI tends to focus on the profession of radiology; little is known about the impact of MRI on a broader range of clinical practice. This paper focuses on MRI use in pregnancy, a relatively new application of the technology. Drawing on empirical research with a range of health professionals (from radiologists to pathologists) in the North of England, this paper asks: how do different types of health professionals engage with the technology and to what end? It will argue that MRI use in pregnancy offers an increasingly important piece of the diagnostic jigsaw, often acting as a bridging technology between medical specialties. The implications of this will be explored in the context of broader sociological debates on the ‘visualisation’ of medicine and its impact on professionals

Lessons being learned between the Covid-19 pandemic and radiological emergencies: report from experts’ discussions

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available on open access from IOP Publishing via the DOI in this recordIn order to examine what lessons radiological emergency management may offer to the Covid-19 pandemic management and vice versa, a series of three online webinars were conducted with leading experts, scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines essential for emergency management and long-term risk governance. The first webinar debated the lessons we are learning from the Covid-19 pandemic for radiological risk communication, the second explored issues around longer-term outcomes of a crisis and how to balance these with short-term actions whilst the third focused on the key challenges of the 'transition phase', using learning from Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima Daichii (2011) accidents. This paper reviews the discussion and provides valuable lessons for the radiation protection community. Results of the discussion indicated that: i) non-radiological and non-epidemiological consequences of emergencies, e.g. psychological (mental health), societal and economic, should not be underestimated; ii) multidisciplinary expertise is imperative for communication efforts and for effective emergency management, including decision-making in the application of protective measures; iii) stakeholder engagement, including the involvement of the potentially affected population, should be encouraged from an early stage and iv) trust is increased if policy-makers and main science agencies show a unified voice

Five rules of thumb for post-ELSI interdisciplinary collaborations

In this paper we identify five rules of thumb for interdisciplinary collaboration across the natural and social sciences. We link these to efforts to move away from the ‘ethical, legal and social issues’ framework of interdisciplinarity and towards a post-ELSI collaborative space. It is in trying to open up such a space that we identify the need for: collaborative experimentation, taking risks, collaborative reflexivity, opening-up discussions of unshared goals and neighbourliness

Taking roles in interdisciplinary collaborations: Reflections on working in post-ELSI spaces in the UK synthetic biology community

Based on criticism of the “ethical, legal and social implications” (ELSI) paradigm, researchers in science and technology studies (STS) have begun to create and move into “post-ELSI” spaces. In this paper, we pool our experiences of working towards collaborative practices with colleagues in engineering and science disciplines in the f eld of synthetic biology. We identify a number of dif erent roles that we have taken, been assumed to take, or have had foisted upon us as we have sought to develop postELSI practices. We argue that the post-ELSI situation is characterised by the demands placed on STS researchers and other social scientists to f uctuate between roles as contexts shift in terms of power relations, af ective tenor, and across space and over time. This leads us to posit four orientations for post-ELSI collaborative practices that could help establish more fruitful negotiations around these roles

Tales of Emergence - Synthetic Biology as a Scientific Community in the Making

International audienceThis article locates the beginnings of a synthetic biology network and thereby probes the formation of a potential disciplinary community. We consider the ways that ideas of community are mobilized, both by scientists and policy-makers in building an agenda for new forms of knowledge work, and by social scientists as an analytical device to understand new formations for knowledge production. As participants in, and analysts of, a network in synthetic biology, we describe our current understanding of synthetic biology by telling four tales of community making. The first tale tells of the mobilization of synthetic biology within a European context. The second tale describes the approach to synthetic biology community formation in the UK. The third narrates the creation of an institutionally based, funded 'network in synthetic biology'. The final tale de-localizes community-making efforts by focussing on 'devices' that make communities. In tying together these tales, our analysis suggests that the potential community can be understood in terms of 'movements'--the (re)orientation and enrolment of people, stories, disciplines and policies; and of 'stickiness'--the objects and glues that begin to bind together the various constitutive elements of community

Exploring the translational challenge for medical applications of ionising radiation and corresponding radiation protection research

This is the final version. Available on open access from BMC via the DOI in this recordAvailability of Data and Materials: The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Background: Medical applications of ionising radiation and associated radiation protection research often encounter long delays and inconsistent implementation when translated into clinical practice. A coordinated effort is needed to analyse the research needs for innovation transfer in radiation-based high-quality healthcare across Europe which can inform the development of an innovation transfer framework tailored for equitable implementation of radiation research at scale. Methods: Between March and September 2021 a Delphi methodology was employed to gain consensus on key translational challenges from a range of professional stakeholders. A total of three Delphi rounds were conducted using a series of electronic surveys comprised of open-ended and closed-type questions. The surveys were disseminated via the EURAMED Rocc-n-Roll consortium network and prominent medical societies in the field. Approximately 350 professionals were invited to participate. Participants’ level of agreement with each generated statement was captured using a 6-point Likert scale. Consensus was defined as median ≥4 with ≥60% of responses in the upper tertile of the scale. Additionally, the stability of responses across rounds was assessed. Results: In the first Delphi round a multidisciplinary panel of 20 generated 127 unique statements. The second and third Delphi rounds recruited a broader sample of 130 individuals to rate the extent to which they agreed with each statement as a key translational challenge. A total of 60 consensus statements resulted from the iterative Delphi process of which 55 demonstrated good stability. Ten statements were identified as high priority challenges with ≥80% of statement ratings either ‘Agree’ or ‘Strongly Agree’. Conclusion: A lack of interoperability between systems, insufficient resources, unsatisfactory education and training, and the need for greater public awareness surrounding the benefits, risks, and applications of ionising radiation were identified as principal translational challenges. These findings will help to inform a tailored innovation transfer framework for medical radiation research.European Commissio

Sequelae due to bacterial meningitis among African children: a systematic literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>African children have some of the highest rates of bacterial meningitis in the world. Bacterial meningitis in Africa is associated with high case fatality and frequent neuropsychological sequelae. The objective of this study is to present a comprehensive review of data on bacterial meningitis sequelae in children from the African continent.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a systematic literature search to identify studies from Africa focusing on children aged between 1 month to 15 years with laboratory-confirmed bacterial meningitis. We extracted data on neuropsychological sequelae (hearing loss, vision loss, cognitive delay, speech/language disorder, behavioural problems, motor delay/impairment, and seizures) and mortality, by pathogen.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 37 articles were included in the final analysis representing 21 African countries and 6,029 children with confirmed meningitis. In these studies, nearly one fifth of bacterial meningitis survivors experienced in-hospital sequelae (median = 18%, interquartile range (IQR) = 13% to 27%). About a quarter of children surviving pneumococcal meningitis and <it>Haemophilus influenzae </it>type b (Hib) meningitis had neuropsychological sequelae by the time of hospital discharge, a risk higher than in meningococcal meningitis cases (median = 7%). The highest in-hospital case fatality ratios observed were for pneumococcal meningitis (median = 35%) and Hib meningitis (median = 25%) compared to meningococcal meningitis (median = 4%). The 10 post-discharge studies of children surviving bacterial meningitis were of varying quality. In these studies, 10% of children followed-up post discharge died (range = 0% to 18%) and a quarter of survivors had neuropsychological sequelae (range = 3% to 47%) during an average follow-up period of 3 to 60 months.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Bacterial meningitis in Africa is associated with high mortality and risk of neuropsychological sequelae. Pneumococcal and Hib meningitis kill approximately one third of affected children and cause clinically evident sequelae in a quarter of survivors prior to hospital discharge. The three leading causes of bacterial meningitis are vaccine preventable, and routine use of conjugate vaccines could provide substantial health and economic benefits through the prevention of childhood meningitis cases, deaths and disability.</p

ICRP workshop on the review and revision of the system of radiological protection: a focus on research priorities-feedback from the international community

This is the final version. Available on open access from IOP Publishing via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: No new data were created or analysed in this study.In September 2022, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) organised a workshop in Estoril, Portugal, on the 'Review and Revision of the System of Radiological Protection: A Focus on Research Priorities'. The workshop, which was a side event of the European Radiation Protection Week, offered an opportunity to comment on a recent paper published by ICRP on areas of research to support the System of Radiological Protection. Altogether, about 150 individuals participated in the workshop. After the workshop, 16 of the 30 organisations in formal relations with ICRP provided written feedback. All participants and organisations followed ICRP's view that further research in various areas will offer additional support in improving the System in the short, medium, and long term. In general, it was emphasised that any research should be outcome-focused in that it should improve protection of people or the environment. Many research topics mentioned by the participants were in line with those already identified by ICRP in the paper noted above. In addition, further ideas were expressed such as, for example, that lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic with regards to the non-radiological social, economic and environment impacts, should be analysed for their usefulness to enhance radiological protection, and that current protection strategies and application of current radiological protection principles may need to be adapted to military scenarios like those observed recently during the military conflict in the Ukraine or the detonation of a nuclear weapon. On a broader perspective, it was discussed how radiation research and radiological protection can contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations in 2015. This paper summarises the views expressed during the workshop and the major take home messages identified by ICRP

Insights into malaria susceptibility using genome-wide data on 17,000 individuals from Africa, Asia and Oceania

The human genetic factors that affect resistance to infectious disease are poorly understood. Here we report a genome-wide association study in 17,000 severe malaria cases and population controls from 11 countries, informed by sequencing of family trios and by direct typing of candidate loci in an additional 15,000 samples. We identify five replicable associations with genome-wide levels of evidence including a newly implicated variant on chromosome 6. Jointly, these variants account for around one-tenth of the heritability of severe malaria, which we estimate as -23% using genome-wide genotypes. We interrogate available functional data and discover an erythroid-specific transcription start site underlying the known association in ATP2B4, but are unable to identify a likely causal mechanism at the chromosome 6 locus. Previously reported HLA associations do not replicate in these samples. This large dataset will provide a foundation for further research on thegenetic determinants of malaria resistance in diverse populations.Peer reviewe