The rise of the ‘yummy mummy’: popular conservatism and the neoliberal maternal in contemporary British culture

This article analyses the emergence of the new social type of the ‘yummy mummy’ by examining the constellation of narratives circulating through and around it in British culture. It contends that, whilst it has some notable precursors, the idea of the yummy mummy marks a fairly substantial cultural shift given the weight of the western Christian tradition that has overwhelmingly positioned the mother as asexual. Coming into being in part through an increasing social divide between rich and poor, this stock type most often serves to augment a white, thirtysomething position of privilege, shoring up its boundaries against the other side of the social divide (so-called ‘pramfaces’). At the same time it is part of a wider fetishisation of the maternal that coexists with profoundly gendered inequalities in relation to childcare in particular. Drawing from a range of sources, and in particular autobiographical celebrity guidebooks and ‘henlit’ novels, the article argues that the figure of the yummy mummy functions to elide such social contexts, instead espousing a girlish, high-consuming maternal ideal as a site of hyperindividualised psychological ‘maturity’. ‘Successful’ maternal femininity in this context is often articulated by rejecting ‘environmentally-conscious’ behaviour and in attempting to render what are presented as excessive eco-delusions both abject and transparent. This tendency, the article argues, is indicative of the conservative nature of the phenomenon, which is forced to belittle and disavow wider structures of social, political and ecological dependency in order for its conservative fantasy of autonomous, individualising retreatism to be maintained

Couple’s Relationship After the Death of a Child: a Systematic Review

When a child dies, the parents must address the changes in their relationship as well as the way that these changes affect their individual adjustment. These two perspectives are addressed in this systematic review. Five databases were systematically searched for papers published in English between January 2000 and February 2014. Of the 646 publications, 24 papers met the inclusion criteria. The results suggest that a child’s death can cause cohesive as well as detrimental effects on a couple’s relationship. Variables that may produce differential outcomes for the marital relationship include situational factors, such as the cause and type of death and the child’s age at the time of death; dyad-level factors, such as surviving children, the pre-death characteristics of the relationship, communication and incongruent grieving; and individuallevel factors, such as the family of origin’s processing of trauma, social support, religious affiliation and finding meaning. Aspects such as marital quality and the couple’s interdependence were found to influence each parent’s individual adjustment. Larger, prospective, ethically conducted studies should be implemented to consolidate these findings. Mental health professionals may benefit from a deeper understanding of the risk and protective factors regarding marital adjustment after a child’s death

MISC-1/OGC Links Mitochondrial Metabolism, Apoptosis and Insulin Secretion

We identified MISC-1 (Mitochondrial Solute Carrier) as the C. elegans orthologue of mammalian OGC (2-oxoglutarate carrier). OGC was originally identified for its ability to transfer α-ketoglutarate across the inner mitochondrial membrane. However, we found that MISC-1 and OGC are not solely involved in metabolic control. Our data show that these orthologous proteins participate in phylogenetically conserved cellular processes, like control of mitochondrial morphology and induction of apoptosis. We show that MISC-1/OGC is required for proper mitochondrial fusion and fission events in both C. elegans and human cells. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that loss of MISC-1 results in a decreased number of mitochondrial cristae, which have a blebbed appearance. Furthermore, our pull-down experiments show that MISC-1 and OGC interact with the anti-apoptotic proteins CED-9 and Bcl-xL, respectively, and with the pro-apoptotic protein ANT. Knock-down of misc-1 in C. elegans and OGC in mouse cells induces apoptosis through the caspase cascade. Genetic analysis suggests that MISC-1 controls apoptosis through the physiological pathway mediated by the LIN-35/Rb-like protein. We provide genetic and molecular evidence that absence of MISC-1 increases insulin secretion and enhances germline stem cell proliferation in C. elegans. Our study suggests that the mitochondrial metabolic protein MISC-1/OGC integrates metabolic, apoptotic and insulin secretion functions. We propose a novel mechanism by which mitochondria integrate metabolic and cell survival signals. Our data suggest that MISC-1/OGC functions by sensing the metabolic status of mitochondria and directly activate the apoptotic program when required. Our results suggest that controlling MISC-1/OGC function allows regulation of mitochondrial morphology and cell survival decisions by the metabolic needs of the cell

Plasma and cellular fibronectin: distinct and independent functions during tissue repair

Fibronectin (FN) is a ubiquitous extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein that plays vital roles during tissue repair. The plasma form of FN circulates in the blood, and upon tissue injury, is incorporated into fibrin clots to exert effects on platelet function and to mediate hemostasis. Cellular FN is then synthesized and assembled by cells as they migrate into the clot to reconstitute damaged tissue. The assembly of FN into a complex three-dimensional matrix during physiological repair plays a key role not only as a structural scaffold, but also as a regulator of cell function during this stage of tissue repair. FN fibrillogenesis is a complex, stepwise process that is strictly regulated by a multitude of factors. During fibrosis, there is excessive deposition of ECM, of which FN is one of the major components. Aberrant FN-matrix assembly is a major contributing factor to the switch from normal tissue repair to misregulated fibrosis. Understanding the mechanisms involved in FN assembly and how these interplay with cellular, fibrotic and immune responses may reveal targets for the future development of therapies to regulate aberrant tissue-repair processes

The first 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Mortality, intubation and ICU rates among 104,590 patients hospitalized at 21 United States health systems

Main objective There is limited information on how patient outcomes have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study characterizes changes in mortality, intubation, and ICU admission rates during the first 20 months of the pandemic. Study design and methods University of Wisconsin researchers collected and harmonized electronic health record data from 1.1 million COVID-19 patients across 21 United States health systems from February 2020 through September 2021. The analysis comprised data from 104,590 adult hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Inclusion criteria for the analysis were: (1) age 18 years or older; (2) COVID-19 ICD-10 diagnosis during hospitalization and/or a positive COVID-19 PCR test in a 14-day window (+/- 7 days of hospital admission); and (3) health system contact prior to COVID-19 hospitalization. Outcomes assessed were: (1) mortality (primary), (2) endotracheal intubation, and (3) ICU admission. Results and significance The 104,590 hospitalized participants had a mean age of 61.7 years and were 50.4% female, 24% Black, and 56.8% White. Overall risk-standardized mortality (adjusted for age, sex, race, ethnicity, body mass index, insurance status and medical comorbidities) declined from 16% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients (95% CI: 16% to 17%) early in the pandemic (February-April 2020) to 9% (CI: 9% to 10%) later (July-September 2021). Among subpopulations, males (vs. females), those on Medicare (vs. those on commercial insurance), the severely obese (vs. normal weight), and those aged 60 and older (vs. younger individuals) had especially high mortality rates both early and late in the pandemic. ICU admission and intubation rates also declined across these 20 months. Conclusions Mortality, intubation, and ICU admission rates improved markedly over the first 20 months of the pandemic among adult hospitalized COVID-19 patients although gains varied by subpopulation. These data provide important information on the course of COVID-19 and identify hospitalized patient groups at heightened risk for negative outcomes. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04506528 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04506528)

Social change and the family: Comparative perspectives from the west, China, and South Asia

This paper examines the influence of social and economic change on family structure and relationships: How do such economic and social transformations as industrialization, urbanization, demographic change, the expansion of education, and the long-term growth of income influence the family? We take a comparative and historical approach, reviewing the experiences of three major sociocultural regions: the West, China, and South Asia. Many of the changes that have occurred in family life have been remarkably similar in the three settings—the separation of the workplace from the home, increased training of children in nonfamilial institutions, the development of living arrangements outside the family household, increased access of children to financial and other productive resources, and increased participation by children in the selection of a mate. While the similarities of family change in diverse cultural settings are striking, specific aspects of change have varied across settings because of significant pre-existing differences in family structure, residential patterns of marriage, autonomy of children, and the role of marriage within kinship systems.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45661/1/11206_2005_Article_BF01124383.pd

Exploring Stakeholder Requirements to Enable Research and Development of Artificial Intelligence Algorithms in a Hospital-Based Generic Infrastructure: Results of a Multistep Mixed Methods Study

BackgroundLegal, controlled, and regulated access to high-quality data from academic hospitals currently poses a barrier to the development and testing of new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. To overcome this barrier, the German Federal Ministry of Health supports the “pAItient” (Protected Artificial Intelligence Innovation Environment for Patient Oriented Digital Health Solutions for developing, testing and evidence-based evaluation of clinical value) project, with the goal to establish an AI Innovation Environment at the Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany. It is designed as a proof-of-concept extension to the preexisting Medical Data Integration Center. ObjectiveThe first part of the pAItient project aims to explore stakeholders’ requirements for developing AI in partnership with an academic hospital and granting AI experts access to anonymized personal health data. MethodsWe designed a multistep mixed methods approach. First, researchers and employees from stakeholder organizations were invited to participate in semistructured interviews. In the following step, questionnaires were developed based on the participants’ answers and distributed among the stakeholders’ organizations. In addition, patients and physicians were interviewed. ResultsThe identified requirements covered a wide range and were conflicting sometimes. Relevant patient requirements included adequate provision of necessary information for data use, clear medical objective of the research and development activities, trustworthiness of the organization collecting the patient data, and data should not be reidentifiable. Requirements of AI researchers and developers encompassed contact with clinical users, an acceptable user interface (UI) for shared data platforms, stable connection to the planned infrastructure, relevant use cases, and assistance in dealing with data privacy regulations. In a next step, a requirements model was developed, which depicts the identified requirements in different layers. This developed model will be used to communicate stakeholder requirements within the pAItient project consortium. ConclusionsThe study led to the identification of necessary requirements for the development, testing, and validation of AI applications within a hospital-based generic infrastructure. A requirements model was developed, which will inform the next steps in the development of an AI innovation environment at our institution. Results from our study replicate previous findings from other contexts and will add to the emerging discussion on the use of routine medical data for the development of AI applications. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR2-10.2196/4220

Exploring Stakeholder Requirements to Enable the Research and Development of Artificial Intelligence Algorithms in a Hospital-Based Generic Infrastructure: Protocol for a Multistep Mixed Methods Study

BackgroundIn recent years, research and developments in advancing artificial intelligence (AI) in health care and medicine have increased. High expectations surround the use of AI technologies, such as improvements for diagnosis and increases in the quality of care with reductions in health care costs. The successful development and testing of new AI algorithms require large amounts of high-quality data. Academic hospitals could provide the data needed for AI development, but granting legal, controlled, and regulated access to these data for developers and researchers is difficult. Therefore, the German Federal Ministry of Health supports the Protected Artificial Intelligence Innovation Environment for Patient-Oriented Digital Health Solutions for Developing, Testing, and Evidence-Based Evaluation of Clinical Value (pAItient) project, aiming to install the AI Innovation Environment at the Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany. The AI Innovation Environment was designed as a proof-of-concept extension of the already existing Medical Data Integration Center. It will establish a process to support every step of developing and testing AI-based technologies. ObjectiveThe first part of the pAItient project, as presented in this research protocol, aims to explore stakeholders’ requirements for developing AI in partnership with an academic hospital and granting AI experts access to anonymized personal health data. MethodsWe planned a multistep mixed methods approach. In the first step, researchers and employees from stakeholder organizations were invited to participate in semistructured interviews. In the following step, questionnaires were developed based on the participants’ answers and distributed among the stakeholders’ organizations to quantify qualitative findings and discover important aspects that were not mentioned by the interviewees. The questionnaires will be analyzed descriptively. In addition, patients and physicians were interviewed as well. No survey questionnaires were developed for this second group of participants. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Heidelberg University Hospital (approval number: S-241/2021). ResultsData collection concluded in summer 2022. Data analysis is planned to start in fall 2022. We plan to publish the results in winter 2022 to 2023. ConclusionsThe results of our study will help in shaping the AI Innovation Environment at our academic hospital according to stakeholder requirements. With this approach, in turn, we aim to shape an AI environment that is effective and is deemed acceptable by all parties. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/4220