Social welfare reform: From dependency to malingeringfor people with mental health disabilities?

Of the 600,000 new claimants of incapacity benefits in the UK, approximately 40 per cent report mental health disabilities. The percentage remains consistent for the total number on incapacity benefits, over 2.5 million people of which 41 per cent report mental health ‘problems’ (Black 2008).These statistics are especially striking when considered in the context of legislative and labour market policy reform during the past 15 years, which have generally expressed a commitment to addressing the exclusion of disabled people. In the UK this has largely relied on two apparently positive and related pressures. The first has been legislative change, which for the first time in the UK provides a statutory right for people with mental health disabilities not to be discriminated against on the grounds of their health (through the Disability Discrimination Act 1995). The second pressure, and focus of this article, has come via active governmental labour market policy, most notably the Welfare Reform Act 2007. This has focused on a shift from passive to active policy, and attempted to improve individual employability through various employment support programmes. This paper presents a discussion of these changes (primarily incapacity benefit), their theoretical basis and a critique of their potential impact for those with mental health‘problems

How CESR informs student research:The engaging in critical business enquiry module at UWE

This article from the July 2013 edition of the CESR review outlines the objectives behind the UWE UG1 module Engaging in Critical Business Enquiry

Temporary versus permanent employment: Does health matter?

Poor health may inhibit active participation in the labour market and restrict the types of employment available to an individual. This paper uses recent survey data from New Zealand and employs a bivariate probit approach (to address sample selection issues) for investigating the relationship between health status and employment type. We find that health issues (and in particular mental health) are negatively related to the likelihood of being employed; and entering full-time and / or permanent employment. The picture with respect to temporary work is a little more fuzzy, with mixed results, and only minimal evidence is found that poor health is positively related to being in temporary employment

Fibroblasts derived from long-lived insulin receptor substrate 1 null mice are not resistant to multiple forms of stress

Reduced signalling through the insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 signalling (IIS) pathway is a highly conserved lifespan determinant in model organisms. The precise mechanism underlying the effects of the IIS on lifespan and health is currently unclear, although cellular stress resistance may be important. We have previously demonstrated that mice globally lacking insulin receptor substrate 1 (Irs1−/−) are long-lived and enjoy a greater period of their life free from age-related pathology compared with wild-type (WT) controls. In this study, we show that primary dermal fibroblasts and primary myoblasts derived from Irs1−/− mice are no more resistant to a range of oxidant and nonoxidant chemical stressors than cells derived from WT mice

Does poor health affect employment transitions?

This report explores the relationships between poor health and transitions between different types of employment. Poor health is associated with low levels of participation in paid employment and therefore increased risk of poverty. The work experiences of people with poor health have been the subject of limited quantitative research, despite the fact that negative labour market experiences may well be a strong predictor of poverty. This report: • Identifies that self-reported poor health is associated with a reduced propensity to be employed; • Finds those reporting problems with alcohol or drugs are the least likely to be in employment; • Pinpoints that employed people reporting poor physical or mental health are more likely to move from permanent to temporary work; • Ascertains that people reporting poor mental health have a significantly increased likelihood of moving from full-time to part-time work; • Recognises that qualifications can play a role in mitigating the negative impact of poor health on labour market transitions, but cannot overcome them altogether

Common and unique transcriptional responses to dietary restriction and loss of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) in mice

Dietary restriction (DR) is the most widely studied non-genetic intervention capable of extending lifespan across multiple taxa. Modulation of genes, primarily within the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling (IIS) and the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling pathways also act to extend lifespan in model organisms. For example, mice lacking insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS1) are long-lived and protected against several age-associated pathologies. However, it remains unclear how these particular interventions act mechanistically to produce their beneficial effects. Here, we investigated transcriptional responses in wild-type and IRS1 null mice fed an ad libitum diet (WTAL and KOAL) or fed a 30% DR diet (WTDR or KODR). Using an RNAseq approach we noted a high correlation coefficient of differentially expressed genes existed within the same tissue across WTDR and KOAL mice and many metabolic features were shared between these mice. Overall, we report that significant overlap exists in the tissue-specific transcriptional response between long-lived DR mice and IRS1 null mice. However, there was evidence of disconnect between transcriptional signatures and certain phenotypic measures between KOAL and KODR, in that additive effects on body mass were observed but at the transcriptional level DR induced a unique set of genes in these already long-lived mice

The Stargazin-Related Protein {gamma}7 Interacts with the mRNA-Binding Protein Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A2 and Regulates the Stability of Specific mRNAs, Including CaV2.2

The role(s) of the novel stargazin-like {gamma}-subunit proteins remain controversial. We have shown previously that the neuron-specific {gamma}7 suppresses the expression of certain calcium channels, particularly CaV2.2, and is therefore unlikely to operate as a calcium channel subunit. We now show that the effect of {gamma}7 on CaV2.2 expression is via an increase in the degradation rate of CaV2.2 mRNA and hence a reduction of CaV2.2 protein level. Furthermore, exogenous expression of {gamma}7 in PC12 cells also decreased the endogenous CaV2.2 mRNA level. Conversely, knockdown of endogenous {gamma}7 with short-hairpin RNAs produced a reciprocal enhancement of CaV2.2 mRNA stability and an increase in endogenous calcium currents in PC12 cells. Moreover, both endogenous and expressed {gamma}7 are present on intracellular membranes, rather than the plasma membrane. The cytoplasmic C terminus of {gamma}7 is essential for all its effects, and we show that {gamma}7 binds directly via its C terminus to a heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP A2), which also binds to a motif in CaV2.2 mRNA, and is associated with native CaV2.2 mRNA in PC12 cells. The expression of hnRNP A2 enhances CaV2.2 IBa, and this enhancement is prevented by a concentration of {gamma}7 that alone has no effect on IBa. The effect of {gamma}7 is selective for certain mRNAs because it had no effect on {alpha}2{delta}-2 mRNA stability, but it decreased the mRNA stability for the potassium-chloride cotransporter, KCC1, which contains a similar hnRNP A2 binding motif to that in CaV2.2 mRNA. Our results indicate that {gamma}7 plays a role in stabilizing CaV2.2 mRNA

Primordial black holes in braneworld cosmologies: Accretion after formation

We recently studied the formation and evaporation of primordial black holes in a simple braneworld cosmology, namely Randall-Sundrum Type II. Here we study the effect of accretion from the cosmological background onto the black holes after formation. While it is generally believed that in the standard cosmology such accretion is of negligible importance, we find that during the high-energy regime of braneworld cosmology accretion can be the dominant effect and lead to a mass increase of potentially orders of magnitude. However, unfortunately the growth is exponentially sensitive to the accretion efficiency, which cannot be determined accurately. Since accretion becomes unimportant once the high-energy regime is over, it does not affect any constraints expressed at the time of black hole evaporation, but it can change the interpretation of those constraints in terms of early Universe formation rates.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX4 file. Extension to discussion of thermal balance and grey-body factor

Exploring Effect of Different Resource Qualities on Process Efficiency in Construction Pile Installation

This paper presents the measured effects of different resource qualities on construction performance. The paper describes a recommended method, proposed with the concept of prediction by understanding the causal effect of process resources on consequent work efficiencies. The project team measured and compared the different arrangements of resources and their effects on on-site work efficiencies. The paper includes a field study of 15 operations (40 piles) in Melbourne, on several worksites of prefabricated piles and installations. It aimed to determine the causality between the set of delivered prefabricated piles and relevant work efficiencies. This field includes its purpose of generating and providing scientific evidence in effectively implementing an offsite operation. One of the critical factors affecting the efficiency of the installation process was confirmed to be the location of the longest section in the sequence. It took 21.8 minutes longer with the middle part of the installation if the longest section was designed to be in the middle of the whole prefabricated steel pile. The findings confirmed the need for holistic communication along the supply chain. The originality of this project is to provide a case study that offers archival evidence of the proposed model in a practical situation

Structure modeling hints at a granular organization of the Golgi ribbon

Funding Information: This work was funded by the Medical Research Council (grants MC_UU_12018/2 and MC_UU_00012/2 to D.F.C.) and by the British Heart Foundation (grant PG/14/76/31087 to D.F.C.). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Background: In vertebrate cells, the Golgi functional subunits, mini-stacks, are linked into a tri-dimensional network. How this “ribbon” architecture relates to Golgi functions remains unclear. Are all connections between mini-stacks equal? Is the local structure of the ribbon of functional importance? These are difficult questions to address, without a quantifiable readout of the output of ribbon-embedded mini-stacks. Endothelial cells produce secretory granules, the Weibel-Palade bodies (WPB), whose von Willebrand Factor (VWF) cargo is central to hemostasis. The Golgi apparatus controls WPB size at both mini-stack and ribbon levels. Mini-stack dimensions delimit the size of VWF "boluses” whilst the ribbon architecture allows their linear co-packaging, thereby generating WPBs of different lengths. This Golgi/WPB size relationship suits mathematical analysis. Results: WPB lengths were quantized as multiples of the bolus size and mathematical modeling simulated the effects of different Golgi ribbon organizations on WPB size, to be compared with the ground truth of experimental data. An initial simple model, with the Golgi as a single long ribbon composed of linearly interlinked mini-stacks, was refined to a collection of mini-ribbons and then to a mixture of mini-stack dimers plus long ribbon segments. Complementing these models with cell culture experiments led to novel findings. Firstly, one-bolus sized WPBs are secreted faster than larger secretory granules. Secondly, microtubule depolymerization unlinks the Golgi into equal proportions of mini-stack monomers and dimers. Kinetics of binding/unbinding of mini-stack monomers underpinning the presence of stable dimers was then simulated. Assuming that stable mini-stack dimers and monomers persist within the ribbon resulted in a final model that predicts a “breathing” arrangement of the Golgi, where monomer and dimer mini-stacks within longer structures undergo continuous linking/unlinking, consistent with experimentally observed WPB size distributions. Conclusions: Hypothetical Golgi organizations were validated against a quantifiable secretory output. The best-fitting Golgi model, accounting for stable mini-stack dimers, is consistent with a highly dynamic ribbon structure, capable of rapid rearrangement. Our modeling exercise therefore predicts that at the fine-grained level the Golgi ribbon is more complex than generally thought. Future experiments will confirm whether such a ribbon organization is endothelial-specific or a general feature of vertebrate cells.publishersversionpublishe