Gay men in the performing arts: performing sexualities within 'gay-friendly' work contexts

Building on emerging research on ‘gay-friendly’ organisations, this article examines if and how work contexts understood and experienced as ‘gay-friendly’ can be characterised as exhibiting a serious breakdown in heteronormativity. Taking the performing arts as a research setting, one that is often stereotyped as ‘gay-friendly’, and drawing on in-depth interview data with 20 gay male performers in the UK, this article examines how everyday activities and encounters involving drama school educators, casters and peers are informed by heteronormative standards of gay male sexuality. One concern is that heteronormative constructions of gay male sexualities constrain participants’ access to work; suggesting limits to the abilities and roles gay men possess and are able to play. Another concern is that when gay male sexualities become normalised in performing work contexts, they reinforce organisational heteronormativity and the heterosexual/homosexual binary upon which it relies. This study contributes towards theorising ‘gay-friendly’ places of work as heteronormative

Handheld ISFET Lab-on-Chip detection of TMPRSS2-ERG and AR mRNA for prostate cancer prognostics

Ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs) in combination with unmodified complementary metal oxide semiconductors present a point-of-care platform for clinical diagnostics and prognostics. This work illustrates the sensitive and specific detection of two circulating mRNA markers for prostate cancer, the androgen receptor and the TMPRSS2-ERG fusion using a target-specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification method. TMPRSS2-ERG and androgen receptor RNA were detected down to 3x10 1 and 5x10 1 copies respectively in under 30 minutes. Administration of these assays onto the ISFET Lab-on-chip device was successful and the specificity of each marker was corroborated with mRNA extracted from prostate cancer cell lines

Classification of nucleic acid amplification on ISFET arrays using spectrogram-based neural networks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a significant research gap in the field of molecular diagnostics. This has brought forth the need for AI-based edge solutions that can provide quick diagnostic results whilst maintaining data privacy, security and high standards of sensitivity and specificity. This paper presents a novel proof-of-concept method to detect nucleic acid amplification using ISFET sensors and deep learning. This enables the detection of DNA and RNA on a low-cost and portable lab-on-chip platform for identifying infectious diseases and cancer biomarkers. We show that by using spectrograms to transform the signal to the time-frequency domain, image processing techniques can be applied to achieve the reliable classification of the detected chemical signals. Transformation to spectrograms is beneficial as it makes the data compatible with 2D convolutional neural networks and helps gain significant performance improvement over neural networks trained on the time domain data. The trained network achieves an accuracy of 84% with a size of 30kB making it suitable for deployment on edge devices. This facilitates a new wave of intelligent lab-on-chip platforms that combine microfluidics, CMOS-based chemical sensing arrays and AI-based edge solutions for more intelligent and rapid molecular diagnostics

Natural history of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the United Kingdom: a descriptive study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare, muscle-degenerative disease predominantly affecting males. Natural history models capture the full disease pathway under current care and combine with estimates of new interventions’ effects to assess cost-effectiveness by health technology decision-makers. These models require mortality estimates throughout a patient's lifetime, but rare disease datasets typically contain relatively few patients with short follow-ups. Alternative (published) sources of mortality data may therefore be required. Methods: The Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) was evaluated as a source of mortality and natural history data for future economic evaluations of health technologies for DMD and rare diseases in general in the UK population. This retrospective longitudinal cohort study provides flexible parametric estimates of mortality rates and survival probabilities in the current UK DMD population through primary/secondary records in the CPRD since 1990. It also investigates clinically significant milestones such as corticosteroid use, spinal surgery, and cardiomyopathy in these patients. Results: A total of 1121 male patients were included in the study, observed from 0.7 to 48.9 years. Median life expectancy was 25.64 years (95% confidence interval 24.73, 26.47), consistent with previous global estimates. This has improved to 26.47 (25.16, 27.89) years in patients born after 1990. The median ages at corticosteroid initiation, spinal surgery, ventilation, and cardiomyopathy diagnosis were 6.06 years (5.77, 6.29), 14.79 years (14.29, 15.09), 16.97 years (16.50, 18.31), and 15.26 years (14.22, 16.70), respectively. Conclusions: Estimates of mortality in UK-based DMD patients are age-specific in a uniquely large and nationally representative sample from the CPRD

The Physicist's Guide to the Orchestra

An experimental study of strings, woodwinds (organ pipe, flute, clarinet, saxophone and recorder), and the voice was undertaken to illustrate the basic principles of sound production in music instruments. The setup used is simple and consists of common laboratory equipment. Although the canonical examples (standing wave on a string, in an open and closed pipe) are easily reproduced, they fail to explain the majority of the measurements. The reasons for these deviations are outlined and discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures (jpg files). Submitted to European Journal of Physic

The Long Journey from Ab Initio Calculations to Density Functional Theory for Nuclear Large Amplitude Collective Motion

At present there are two vastly different ab initio approaches to the description of the the many-body dynamics: the Density Functional Theory (DFT) and the functional integral (path integral) approaches. On one hand, if implemented exactly, the DFT approach can allow in principle the exact evaluation of arbitrary one-body observable. However, when applied to Large Amplitude Collective Motion (LACM) this approach needs to be extended in order to accommodate the phenomenon of surface-hoping, when adiabaticity is strongly violated and the description of a system using a single (generalized) Slater determinant is not valid anymore. The functional integral approach on the other hand does not appear to have such restrictions, but its implementation does not appear to be straightforward endeavor. However, within a functional integral approach one seems to be able to evaluate in principle any kind of observables, such as the fragment mass and energy distributions in nuclear fission. These two radically approaches can likely be brought brought together by formulating a stochastic time-dependent DFT approach to many-body dynamics.Comment: 9 page

Detection of YAP1 and AR-V7 mRNA for prostate cancer prognosis using an ISFET lab-on-chip platform

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cause of male cancer-related death worldwide. The gold standard of treatment for advanced PCa is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). However, eventual failure of ADT is common and leads to lethal metastatic castration-resistant PCa. As such, the detection of relevant biomarkers in the blood for drug resistance in metastatic castration-resistant PCa patients could lead to personalized treatment options. mRNA detection is often limited by the low specificity of qPCR assays which are restricted to specialized laboratories. Here, we present a novel reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay and have demonstrated its capability for sensitive detection of AR-V7 and YAP1 RNA (3 × 101 RNA copies per reaction). This work presents a foundation for the detection of circulating mRNA in PCa on a non-invasive lab-on-chip device for use at the point-of-care. This technique was implemented onto a lab-on-chip platform integrating an array of chemical sensors (ion-sensitive field-effect transistors) for real-time detection of RNA. Detection of RNA presence was achieved through the translation of chemical signals into electrical readouts. Validation of this technique was conducted with rapid detection (<15 min) of extracted RNA from prostate cancer cell lines 22Rv1s and DU145s

Sleep disturbance in dementia or mild cognitive impairment: a realist review of general practice

Background: Sleep disturbance (SD) is a prevalent condition among people living with dementia (PLwD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Its assessment and management within primary care is complex due to the comorbidities, older age and cognitive impairment typical of this patient group. Aim: This study aimed to explore how primary care clinicians assess, understand, and manage SD for PLwD or MCI; if and why such initiatives work; and how people and their carers experience SD and its treatment. Design and setting: A realist review of existing literature was conducted in 2022. Methods: Six bibliographic databases were searched. Context-Mechanism-Outcome Configurations (CMOCs) were developed and refined. Results: Sixty records were included from 1,869 retrieved hits and 19 CMOCs were developed. Low awareness of and confidence in the treatment of SD among primary care clinicians and service users, combined with time and resource constraints, meant that identifying SD was difficult and not prioritised. Medication was perceived by clinicians and service users as the primary management tool, resulting in inappropriate or long-term prescription. Rigid nursing routines in care homes were reportedly not conducive to good quality sleep. Conclusion: In primary care, SD among PLwD or MCI is not adequately addressed. Over-reliance on medication, under-utilisation of non-pharmacological strategies, and inflexible care home routines were reported due to low confidence and resource constraints. This does not constitute effective and person-centred care. Future work should consider ways to tailor the assessment and management of SD to the needs of individuals and their informal carers without overstretching services

Optimising Psychoeducation for Transient Ischaemic Attack and Minor Stroke Management (OPTIMISM): Protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial

Background: A transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and minor stroke are medical emergencies and often a warning sign of future strokes if remain untreated. Few studies have investigated the long-term psychosocial effects of TIA and minor stroke. Secondary prevention and medical management are often the primary focus with limited access offered for further psychosocial support. Psychoeducational interventions can provide education and advice to people with physical health conditions and, with suitable tailoring, could be appropriate for people after TIA and minor stroke. This study aims to develop a group psychoeducational intervention for people after TIA and minor stroke and to test whether it is acceptable and feasible. Methods: This mixed-methodology study involves two phases: Phase 1) A qualitative study to determine the content of a suitable intervention; Phase 2) A single-centre feasibility randomised controlled trial to evaluate the acceptability of this intervention. The overall study has ethical approval. Stroke survivors have been involved in designing and monitoring the trial. The aim is to recruit 30-40 participants from a Stroke/TIA Service, within 6 months following their diagnosis. Participants will be randomly allocated to either the usual care control group or the intervention group (psychoeducational programme). The programme will consist of six group sessions based on providing education, psychological and social support. The primary outcomes will relate to the feasibility aims of the study. Outcomes will be collected at 3 and 6 months to assess mood, quality of life, knowledge and satisfaction, and resource use. Discussion: There is a need to develop and evaluate effective interventions that enhance the education provided to people after TIA and minor stroke and to promote their psychosocial wellbeing. Findings will indicate the acceptability of the intervention and parameters needed to conduct a definitive trial