“It's called homophobia baby” Exploring LGBTQ+ Substance Use and Treatment Experiences in the UK

Introduction. Gender and sexual minority/minoritised groups are at a higher risk of substance misuse and related harm compared to the rest of the population. However, limited research has focused on understanding the extent of these issues and the support needs of all minoritised groups within the LGBTQ+ population. Methods. This qualitative cross-sectional survey sought to explore LGBTQ+ individuals’ perspectives on substance use and treatment experiences. Researchers used a manual thematic analysis approach to thoroughly study the data, examining each part closely to uncover themes and patterns. Co-produced with stakeholders and developed with input from LGBTQ+ individual with lived experience, the survey included 38 participants across the UK. Results. Cannabis (83% n=20), ecstasy (68% n=15), and cocaine (67% n=16) were commonly used substances, while some participants (19% n=6) reported consuming high levels of alcohol. Many respondents highlighted the role of ‘stigma’ and peer pressure within the LGBTQ+ communities as a motivator for substance use. Participants expressed a preference for informal support due to fears of ‘discrimination’ from formal treatment services. Conclusions. The study underscores the need for research inclusive of all LGBTQ+ groups and highlights the importance of tailored interventions that address the diverse needs of LGBTQ+ individuals. Further exploration of peer-led interventions is necessary to assess their effectiveness. The findings emphasise the necessity of person-centered treatment approaches that recognise the heterogeneity of service users

Where the Green Grants Went 6 : Patterns of UK Funding for Environmental and Conservation Work

The sixth edition of Where the Green Grants Went provides a comprehensive overview of grants to environmental initiatives from UK foundations, the National Lottery, and public sector funding programmes. The report focuses on 5,857 grants from foundations and the lottery which together were worth £383 million across the two financial years 2010/11 and 2011/12. Highlights include:detailed analysis of environmental grants from 180 foundations, with UK environmental philanthropy reaching £112 million in 2011/12, its highest ever levelinsights into the types of funding most needed by environmental groups, and the comparative advantages of foundation grants relative to other income sourcesperspectives from more than 100 chief executives on why they value philanthropic fundinginterviews with four experienced environmental philanthropistsa list of the 100 environmental organisations receiving the most money from UK foundationsanalysis of environmental grants from 31 lottery programmes, together worth £182.9 million across 2010/11 and 2011/12an overview of public sector grants programmes, and top-level analysis of their thematic and geographic focu

Accessing sub‑national cholera epidemiological data for Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo during the seventh pandemic

BACKGROUND: Vibrio cholerae is a water-borne pathogen with a global burden estimate at 1.4 to 4.0 million annual cases. Over 94% of these cases are reported in Africa and more research is needed to understand cholera dynamics in the region. Cholera data are lacking, mainly due to reporting issues, creating barriers for widespread research on cholera epidemiology and management in Africa. MAIN BODY: Here, we present datasets that were created to help address this gap, collating freely available sub-national cholera data for Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The data were collated from a variety of English and French publicly available sources, including the World Health Organization, PubMed, UNICEF, EM-DAT, the Nigerian CDC and peer-reviewed literature. These data include information on cases, deaths, age, gender, oral cholera vaccination, risk factors and interventions. CONCLUSION: These datasets can facilitate qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research in these two high burden countries to assist in public health planning. The data can be used in collaboration with organisations in the two countries, which have also collected data or undertaking research. By making the data and methods available, we aim to encourage their use and further data collection and compilation to help improve the data gaps for cholera in Africa

Antecedent precipitation as a potential proxy for landslide incidence in South West UK

This paper considers the effects of antecedent precipitation on landslide incidence in the UK. During 2012-2013 an extraordinary amount of precipitation resulted in an increase in the number of landslides reported in the UK, highlighting the importance of hydrogeological triggering. Slope failures (landslides on engineered slopes) in particular caused widespread disruption to transport services and damage to property. SW England and S Wales were most affected. Easy-to-use and accessible indicators of potential landslide activity are required for planning, preparedness and response and therefore analyses have been carried out to determine whether antecedent effective precipitation can be used as a proxy for landslide incidence. It is shown that for all landslides long-term antecedent precipitation provides an important preparatory factor and that relatively small landslides, such as slope failures, occur within a short period of time following subsequent heavy precipitation. Deep-seated, rotational landslides have a longer response time as their pathway to instability follows a much more complex hydrogeological response. Statistical analyses of the BGS landslide database and of weather records has enabled determination of the probability of at least one landslide occurring based on antecedent precipitation signals for SW England and S Wales. This ongoing research is of part of a suite of analyses to provide tools to identify the likelihood of regional landslides occurrence in the UK

Michaelis-Menten dynamics in protein subnetworks

To understand the behaviour of complex systems it is often necessary to use models that describe the dynamics of subnetworks. It has previously been established using projection methods that such subnetwork dynamics generically involves memory of the past, and that the memory functions can be calculated explicitly for biochemical reaction networks made up of unary and binary reactions. However, many established network models involve also Michaelis-Menten kinetics, to describe e.g. enzymatic reactions. We show that the projection approach to subnetwork dynamics can be extended to such networks, thus significantly broadening its range of applicability. To derive the extension we construct a larger network that represents enzymes and enzyme complexes explicitly, obtain the projected equations, and finally take the limit of fast enzyme reactions that gives back Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The crucial point is that this limit can be taken in closed form. The outcome is a simple procedure that allows one to obtain a description of subnetwork dynamics, including memory functions, starting directly from any given network of unary, binary and Michaelis-Menten reactions. Numerical tests show that this closed form enzyme elimination gives a much more accurate description of the subnetwork dynamics than the simpler method that represents enzymes explicitly, and is also more efficient computationally

Production and Titering of Recombinant Adeno-associated Viral Vectors

In recent years recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV) have become increasingly valuable for in vivo studies in animals, and are also currently being tested in human clinical trials. Wild-type AAV is a non-pathogenic member of the parvoviridae family and inherently replication-deficient. The broad transduction profile, low immune response as well as the strong and persistent transgene expression achieved with these vectors has made them a popular and versatile tool for in vitro and in vivo gene delivery. rAAVs can be easily and cheaply produced in the laboratory and, based on their favourable safety profile, are generally given a low safety classification. Here, we describe a method for the production and titering of chimeric rAAVs containing the capsid proteins of both AAV1 and AAV2. The use of these so-called chimeric vectors combines the benefits of both parental serotypes such as high titres stocks (AAV1) and purification by affinity chromatography (AAV2). These AAV serotypes are the best studied of all AAV serotypes, and individually have a broad infectivity pattern. The chimeric vectors described here should have the infectious properties of AAV1 and AAV2 and can thus be expected to infect a large range of tissues, including neurons, skeletal muscle, pancreas, kidney among others. The method described here uses heparin column purification, a method believed to give a higher viral titer and cleaner viral preparation than other purification methods, such as centrifugation through a caesium chloride gradient. Additionally, we describe how these vectors can be quickly and easily titered to give accurate reading of the number of infectious particles produced

Association between Conflict and Cholera in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cholera outbreaks significantly contribute to disease mortality and morbidity in low- and middle-income countries. Cholera outbreaks have several social and environmental risk factors and extreme conditions can act as catalysts. A social extreme with known links to infectious disease outbreaks is conflict, causing disruption to services, loss of income and displacement. Here, we used the self-controlled case series method in a novel application and found that conflict increased the risk of cholera in Nigeria by 3.6 times and 19.7% of cholera outbreaks were attributable to conflict. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), conflict increased the risk of cholera by 2.6 times and 12.3% of cholera outbreaks were attributable to conflict. Our results highlight the importance of rapid and sufficient assistance during conflict-related cholera outbreaks, while also working towards conflict resolution and addressing pre-existing vulnerabilities such as poverty and access to healthcare. Article Summary Line Conflict significantly increased the risk of cholera outbreaks in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo and pre-existing vulnerabilities and conflict resolution should be a top priority to protect health.Association between Conflict and Cholera in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the CongopublishedVersio

Cholera past and future in Nigeria: Are the Global Task Force on Cholera Control’s 2030 targets achievable?

Background Understanding and continually assessing the achievability of global health targets is key to reducing disease burden and mortality. The Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) Roadmap aims to reduce cholera deaths by 90% and eliminate the disease in twenty countries by 2030. The Roadmap has three axes focusing on reporting, response and coordination. Here, we assess the achievability of the GTFCC targets in Nigeria and identify where the three axes could be strengthened to reach and exceed these goals. Methodology/Principal findings Using cholera surveillance data from Nigeria, cholera incidence was calculated and used to model time-varying reproduction number (R). A best fit random forest model was identified using R as the outcome variable and several environmental and social covariates were considered in the model, using random forest variable importance and correlation clustering. Future scenarios were created (based on varying degrees of socioeconomic development and emission reductions) and used to project future cholera transmission, nationally and sub-nationally to 2070. The projections suggest that significant reductions in cholera cases could be achieved by 2030, particularly in the more developed southern states, but increases in cases remain a possibility. Meeting the 2030 target, nationally, currently looks unlikely and we propose a new 2050 target focusing on reducing regional inequities, while still advocating for cholera elimination being achieved as soon as possible. Conclusion/Significance The 2030 targets could potentially be reached by 2030 in some parts of Nigeria, but more effort is needed to reach these targets at a national level, particularly through access and incentives to cholera testing, sanitation expansion, poverty alleviation and urban planning. The results highlight the importance of and how modelling studies can be used to inform cholera policy and the potential for this to be applied in other contexts