Toward a new understanding of the social impact of the arts

Australia was pivotal in placing empirical study of the social impact of the arts on the map, and yet, a lack of continued robust research has meant that it no longer holds this place. Despite a general acceptance within the arts and health industries that the arts can have positive social impacts, there is little robust evidence to prove this. This paper reviews existing research, finding three primary debates around meaning, methodology, and mastery. This paper recommends a holistic approach to arts impact studies that juxtapose the social and intrinsic impacts. This paper is part of a larger research project into the impact of the arts that will redeem Australia&rsquo;s place as leaders in social impact of the arts studies.<br /

Pricing in the museum sector : the need to balance social responsibility and organisational viability

An essential component of marketing strategy is pricing. Pricing in museums, however, is problematic as issues beyond cost recovery or surplus, such as social responsibilities, need to be considered. This area of marketing is under researched. The aim of this study is to address the research gap by synthesising the literature on pricing strategy in the museum sector. The study found that there are a number of strategies being advocated with regard to pricing in the museum sector in the literature, each representing various perspectives of museology. A research agenda was proposed to assist marketers in the museum sector to meet their organisational needs, whilst balancing their social responsibilities.<br /

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p&lt;0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p&lt;0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p&lt;0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP &gt;5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

Individuals\u27 perceptions of the impact of art

This research explored the impact of art on individuals in order to enhance the likelihood that the benefits of art can be enjoyed by a broad range of individuals. Art was found to have a significant impact on individuals\u27 wellbeing, emotions, relationships, and their perception of the world

Lessons from arts experiences for service-dominant logic

The purpose of this paper is to consider whether art experiences can inform service-dominant logic (SDL) discourse through an exploration of the co-production and co-creation processes of art experiences

Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Induces Pro-Fibrotic/M2 Phenotype in Murine Cardiac Macrophages

<div><p>Objective</p><p>Inflammation and fibrosis are intertwined in multiple disease processes. We have previously found that over-expression of urokinase plasminogen activator in macrophages induces spontaneous macrophage accumulation and fibrosis specific to the heart in mice. Understanding the relationship between inflammation and fibrosis in the heart is critical to developing therapies for diverse myocardial diseases. Therefore, we sought to determine if uPA induces changes in macrophage function that promote cardiac collagen accumulation.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p><p>We analyzed the effect of the uPA transgene on expression of pro-inflammatory (M1) and pro-fibrotic (M2) genes and proteins in hearts and isolated macrophages of uPA overexpressing mice. We found that although there was elevation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 in hearts of transgenic mice, IL-6 is not a major effector of uPA induced cardiac fibrosis. However, uPA expressing bone marrow-derived macrophages are polarized to express M2 genes in response to IL-4 stimulation, and these M2 genes are upregulated in uPA expressing macrophages following migration to the heart. In addition, while uPA expressing macrophages express a transcriptional profile that is seen in tumor–associated macrophages, these macrophages promote collagen expression in cardiac but not embryonic fibroblasts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p><p>Urokinase plasminogen activator induces an M2/profibrotic phenotype in macrophages that is fully expressed after migration of macrophages into the heart. Understanding the mechanisms by which uPA modulates macrophage function may reveal insights into diverse pathologic processes.</p> </div

Cardiac IL-6 is elevated but does not mediate uPA-induced cardiac fibrosis.

<p><b>A.</b> IL-6 concentrations in explant culture media from hearts of SR-uPA^+/0 and NTG mice. N  = 5 mice per genotype. <b>B.</b> Collagen content of hearts from SR-uPA^+/0 and NTG littermates at 15 weeks of age. Solid circles represent mice heterozygous for IL-6; open circles are mice homozygous (+/+ or −/−) for IL-6. Bars are medians. N  = 3–5 mice per heterozygous or homozygous genotype. <b>C.</b> Macrophage accumulation in hearts of SR-uPA^+/0 and NTG littermates at 7 weeks of age. Solid circles represent mice heterozygous for IL-6; open circles are mice homozygous (+/+ or −/−) for IL-6. Bars are medians. N  = 3–5 mice per heterozygous or homozygous genotype. Representative heart sections stained with picrosirius red of <b>D.</b> NTG mice, <b>E.</b> SR-uPA^+/0<i>il6</i>^+/+ and <b>F.</b> SR-uPA^+/0<i>il6</i>^−/− mice. Bars represent 100 µm.</p

Transcriptome analysis of SR-uPA^+/0 versus NTG macrophages.

<p>Interaction networks in which key molecules are transcriptionally differentially regulated in SR-uPA^+/0 vs. NTG macrophages. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) was used to make the network diagrams. In each network diagram, nodes represent specific molecules and transcriptional changes in SR-uPA^+/0 vs. nontransgenic macrophages are indicated with blue or red circles (red = upregulated in SR-uPA^+/0 vs. nontransgenic macrophages, green = downregulated).</p