Universal Role for HLA-C and KIR2Dl Ligand Mismatch in Severe Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease After Unrelated Donor Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (U-HSCT) in Japanese and Caucasian Transplant Recipients: An Analysis on Behalf of International Histocompatibility Working Group in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

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Digestion of Raw and Roasted Almonds in Simulated Gastric Environment

Knowledge of digestion kinetics of solid foods in human stomach, as affected by food processing methods, is critical in establishing processing conditions at the manufacturing stage to achieve desirable release of nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract. The objective of this study was to investigate how roasting affected disintegration and solid release properties of almond in simulated gastric environment. In vitro trials were performed for raw and roasted almonds by using static soaking method and a model stomach system. The changes in sample weight, dry mass, and moisture during the trials were determined. Both compression and penetration tests were used to investigate the texture of almonds with a focus on the influence of absorption of gastric juice. Light microscopy and transmission electronic microscopy were used to study the change in microstructure of the raw and roasted almonds after simulated digestion. The results suggested that the slow disintegration rate and the high amount of swelling of the almonds in the stomach may contribute to their high satiety property. Roasting significantly improved the disintegration rates of almonds and increased loss of solids during simulated digestion, which is well correlated with the decrease in the rigidity of almond samples after absorbing gastric juice. Microstructure of digested almonds showed breakage and breach of cell walls due to acid hydrolysis. Intercellular and intracellular channels formed in almonds during roasting are important for penetration of gastric juice that may facilitate an effective digestion

Voice, autonomy and utopian desire in participatory film-making with young refugees

This article is a reflection on what reflexive documentary scholars call the ‘moral dimension’ (Nash 2012: 318) of a participatory filmmaking project with refugee young people, who wanted to make a film to support other new young arrivals in the process of making home in Scotland. In the first part, we highlight some of the challenges of collaborating with refugee young people, in light of the often de-humanising representations of refugees in mainstream media and the danger of the triple conflation of authenticity-voice-pain in academic narratives about refugees. In the second part, we show how honouring young people’s desire to convey the hopeful aspects of making home, emerged as a key pedagogical strategy to affirm their expert position and encourage their participation in the project. Revisiting key moments of learning and interaction, we demonstrate how young people’s process of ‘finding a voice’ in moment-by-moment filmmaking practice was not a linear, developmental process towards ‘pure’ individual empowerment and singular artistic expression. Their participation in shaping their visual (self-)representation in the final film, was embedded in the dialogical process and pragmatic requirements of a collaborative film production, in which voice, autonomy and teacher authority were negotiated on a moment-by-moment basis. We conclude that it is vital for a reflexive practice and research to not gloss over the moral dilemmas in the name of progressive ideals, for example, when representations are co-created by project filmmakers/educators, but embrace these deliberations as part of the ‘fascinating collaborative matrix’ (Chambers 2019: 29) of participatory filmmaking

Handling method alters the hedonic value of reward in laboratory mice

Mice are the most widely used model species for drug discovery and scientific research. Consequently, it is important to refine laboratory procedures and practices to ensure high standards of welfare and scientific data quality. Recent studies have identified that the standard practice of handling laboratory mice by their tails increases behaviours indicative of anxiety, which can be overcome by handling mice using a tunnel. However, despite clear negative effects on mice’s behaviour, tunnel handling has yet to be widely implemented. In this study, we provide the first evidence that tail handling also reduces mice’s responses to reward. Anhedonia is a core symptom of clinical depression, and is measured in rodents by assessing how they consume a sucrose solution: depressed mice consume less sucrose and the size of their licking bouts when drinking (their ‘lick cluster sizes’) also tend to be smaller. We found that tail handled mice showed more anhedonic responses in both measures compared to tunnel handled mice, indicative of a decreased responsiveness to reward and potentially a more depressive-like state. Our findings have significant implications for the welfare of laboratory mice as well as the design and interpretation of scientific studies, particularly those investigating or involving reward

IL10 and IL10 receptor gene variation and outcomes after unrelated and related hematopoietic cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Results of a previous study with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical siblings showed individual and synergistic associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of the recipient's IL10 gene and the donor's IL10 receptor beta (IL-10RB) gene with development of grades III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. METHODS: In this study of 936 patients who had unrelated donors, genotypes of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the IL10 gene and the IL-10RB gene were evaluated as correlates with outcomes after transplantation. RESULTS: We found no statistically significant associations of polymorphisms at positions -3575, -2763, -1082, and -592 of the IL10 gene or codon 238 of the IL10RB gene with severe acute GVHD, extensive chronic GVHD or nonrelapse mortality after hematopoietic cell transplantation. Among HLA-matched unrelated pairs, the patient's IL10/-592 genotype and donor's IL10RB/c238 genotype showed trends suggesting individual and combined associations with grades III-IV acute GVHD similar to those observed among patients with HLA-identical sibling donors. CONCLUSIONS: Although genetic variation in IL10 pathway affects risk of acute GVHD and non-relapse mortality in HLA-identical sibling transplants, the current results indicate that genetic variation in the IL10 pathway does not significant affect these outcomes in unrelated donor transplants suggesting that the strength of the alloimmune response in the latter exceeds the anti-inflammatory activity of IL10

Legal Paradigm Shifts and Their Impacts on the Socio-Spatial Exclusion of Asylum Seekers in Denmark

This chapter discusses the genesis of Denmark’s asylum accommodation system and recent legal and socio-spatial changes as a reaction to the increase of arrivals. By elucidating the structures and objectives of asylum accommodation, I present that the state’s further tightening of restrictive reception and accommodation policies significantly impacts the socio-spatial configurations of accommodations, refugees’ access to housing and their well-being. I discuss the links between the tensioning of laws, the reduction of living conditions and the (re-)constitution of large accommodations as means of socio-spatial exclusion. Applying the case of Denmark’s Hovedstaden Region (Capital Region), I finally argue that asylum accommodation is a central instrument of Denmark’s approaches to strategically isolate forced migrants and to deter them from migrating to Denmark

‘Placing’ Space: exploring the socio-spatial impacts of cosmopolitan place-marketing approaches on British migrants in Spain

This article explores the sociospatial underpinnings of cosmopolitan place-marketing narratives and their impacts on British migrants living in Sitges, an affluent tourist town in Spain. Sitges’ place-marketing suggests that moving there automatically fosters a cosmopolitan identity. For British migrants in Sitges, this was understood to be exemplified through integration into the local community. Yet the vast majority found such integration impossible, not least because this conceptualization of cosmopolitanism overlooked the subjectivity of locals themselves, by whom they were most often rejected. It is argued that this mismatch between British migrants’ experiences and Sitges’ cosmopolitan place-marketing occurs because it relies on an understanding of subjective identity as generated locationally, enacted via movement to a specific “type” of place that incorporates particular understandings of space, place, and culture in relation to that identity. This overrides the necessity of relationality, undermining the ideal of reflexive identity-making on which cosmopolitan place-marketing narratives rely