‘Ethnic group’, the state and the politics of representation

The assertion, even if only by implication, that ‘ethnic group’ categories represent ‘real’ tangible entities, indeed identities, is commonplace not only in the realms of political and policy discourse but also amongst contemporary social scientists. This paper, following Brubaker (2002), questions this position in a number of key respects: of these three issues will dominate the discussion that follows. First, there is an interrogation of the proposition that those to whom the categories/labels refer constitute sociologically meaningful ‘groups’ as distinct from (mere) human collectivities. Secondly, there is the question of how these categories emerge, i.e. exactly what series of events, negotiations and contestations lie behind their construction and social acceptance. Thirdly, and as a corollary to the latter point, we explore the process of reification that leads to these categories being seen to represent ‘real things in the world’ (ibid.)

The Impact of Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema on Health-Related Quality of Life in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

This article is made available with the permission of the publisher, Association for Research in Vision and OphthalmologyPurpose.: To assess the impact of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in type 1 and type 2 diabetes using the EuroQoL EQ-5D generic multi-attribute utility instrument (MAUI). Methods.: In this cross-sectional study, 577 patients with diabetes were recruited from specialized eye clinics in Melbourne, Australia. Each patient underwent clinical, biochemical, and anthropometric assessments. The severity of combined DR and DME (no DR/DME; mild NPDR [nonproliferative DR (NPDR)] and/or mild DME; moderate NPDR and/or moderate DME; and vision-threatening DR (VTDR) (severe NPDR or PDR and/or severe DME) in the worse eye was calculated. EQ-5D utility measures were the main outcome. Because the distribution of the utility measures was skewed, independent associations were explored using multivariate quantile regression models (five quintiles, namely 15th, 30th, 45th, 60th, 75th) ranging from poorest to highest HRQoL. Results.: Median age of the participants was 66 years (range, 26–90 years). Of the 577 participants, 223 (38.7%) had no DR/DME, 35 (6.1%) had mild NPDR/DME, 127 (22.0%) had moderate NPDR/DME, and 192 (33.3%) had VTDR. In adjusted models, neither presence nor severity of DR/DME was significantly associated with any quantile of the EQ-5D. In contrast, the presence of diabetic complications (other than DR) (β = −0.153; SE = 0.052; P < 0.001), other nonocular comorbidities (β = −0.115; SE = 0.038; P < 0.01), and higher body mass index (β = −0.007; SE = 0.002; P < 0.001) were all associated with worse HRQoL. Conclusions.: Using a generic MAUI, the EQ-5D, the authors found that the presence or severity of DR/DME and concomitant vision loss were not associated with any quantile of HRQoL. These findings suggest that the EQ-5D lacks sensitivity in assessing the impact of the severity of DR/DME on HRQoL parameters and that condition-specific instruments may better capture the full impact of the association

Quantifying sympathetic neuro-haemodynamic transduction at rest in humans:Insights into sex, ageing and blood pressure control

KEY POINTS: We have developed a simple analytical method for quantifying the transduction of sympathetic activity into vascular tone. This method demonstrates that as women age, the transfer of sympathetic nerve activity into vascular tone is increased, so that for a given level of sympathetic activity there is more vasoconstriction. In men, this measure decreases with age. Test–re‐test analysis demonstrated that the new method is a reliable estimate of sympathetic transduction. We conclude that increased sympathetic vascular coupling contributes to the age‐related increase in blood pressure that occurs in women only. This measure is a reliable estimate of sympathetic transduction in populations with high sympathetic nerve activity. Thus, it will provide information regarding whether treatment targeting the sympathetic nervous system, which interrupts the transfer of sympathetic nerve activity into vascular tone, will be effective in reducing blood pressure in hypertensive patients. This may provide insight into which populations will respond to certain types of anti‐hypertensive medication. ABSTRACT: Sex and age differences in the sympathetic control of resting blood pressure (BP) may be due to differences in the transduction of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) into vascular tone. Current methods for dynamically quantifying transduction focus on the relationship between SNA and vasoconstriction during a pressor stimulus, which increases BP and may be contra‐indicated in patients. We describe a simple analytical method for quantifying transduction under resting conditions. We performed linear regression analysis of binned muscle SNA burst areas against diastolic BP (DBP). We assessed whether the slope of this relationship reflects the transduction of SNA into DBP. To evaluate this, we investigated whether this measure captures differences in transduction in different populations. Specifically, we (1) quantified transduction in young men (YM), young women (YW), older men (OM) and postmenopausal women (PMW); and (2) measured changes in transduction during β‐blockade using propranolol in YW, YM and PMW. YM had a greater transduction vs. OM (0.10 ± 0.01 mmHg (% s)(−1), n = 23 vs. 0.06 ± 0.01 mmHg (% s)(−1), n = 18; P = 0.003). Transduction was lowest in YW (0.02 ± 0.01 mmHg (% s)(−1), n = 23) and increased during β‐blockade (0.11 ± 0.01 mmHg (% s)(−1); P < 0.001). Transduction in PMW (0.07 ± 0.01 mmHg (% s)(−1), n = 23) was greater compared to YW (P = 0.001), and was not altered during β‐blockade (0.06 ± 0.01 mmHg (% s)(−1); P = 0.98). Importantly, transduction increased in women with age, but decreased in men. Transduction in women intersected that in men at 55 ± 1.5 years. This measure of transduction captures age‐ and sex‐differences in the sympathetic regulation of DBP and may be valuable in quantifying transduction in disease. In particular, this measure may help target treatment strategies in specific hypertensive subpopulations

Viewpoint: Evaluating the impact of malaria control efforts on mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

OBJECTIVE To describe an approach for evaluating the impact of malaria control efforts on malaria-associated mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, where disease-specific mortality trends usually cannot be measured directly and most malaria deaths occur among young children. METHODS Methods for evaluating changes in malaria-associated mortality are examined; advantages and disadvantages are presented. RESULTS All methods require a plausibility argument - i.e., an assumption that mortality reductions can be attributed to programmatic efforts if improvements are found in steps of the causal pathway between intervention scale-up and mortality trends. As different methods provide complementary information, they can be used together. We recommend following trends in the coverage of malaria control interventions, other factors influencing childhood mortality, malaria-associated morbidity (especially anaemia), and all-cause childhood mortality. This approach reflects decreases in malaria's direct and indirect mortality burden and can be examined in nearly all countries. Adding other information can strengthen the plausibility argument: trends in indicators of malaria transmission, information from demographic surveillance systems and sentinel sites where malaria diagnostics are systematically used, and verbal autopsies linked to representative household surveys. Health facility data on malaria deaths have well-recognized limitations; however, in specific circumstances, they could produce reliable trends. Model-based predictions can help describe changes in malaria-specific burden and assist with program management and advocacy. CONCLUSIONS Despite challenges, efforts to reduce malaria-associated mortality in Africa can be evaluated with trends in malaria intervention coverage and all-cause childhood mortality. Where there are resources and interest, complementary data on malaria morbidity and malaria-specific mortality could be added

Tracing Birth Properties of Stars with Abundance Clustering

To understand the formation and evolution of the Milky Way disk, we must connect its current properties to its past. We explore hydrodynamical cosmological simulations to investigate how the chemical abundances of stars might be linked to their origins. Using hierarchical clustering of abundance measurements in two Milky Way-like simulations with distributed and steady star formation histories, we find that groups of chemically similar stars comprise different groups in birth place (R birth) and time (age). Simulating observational abundance errors (0.05 dex), we find that to trace distinct groups of (R birth, age) requires a large vector of abundances. Using 15 element abundances (Fe, O, Mg, S, Si, C, P, Mn, Ne, Al, N, V, Ba, Cr, Co), up to ≈10 groups can be defined with ≈25% overlap in (R birth, age). We build a simple model to show that in the context of these simulations, it is possible to infer a star's age and R birth from abundances with precisions of ±0.06 Gyr and ±1.17 kpc, respectively. We find that abundance clustering is ineffective for a third simulation, where low-α stars form distributed in the disk and early high-α stars form more rapidly in clumps that sink toward the Galactic center as their constituent stars evolve to enrich the interstellar medium. However, this formation path leads to large age dispersions across the [α/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane, which is inconsistent with the Milky Way's observed properties. We conclude that abundance clustering is a promising approach toward charting the history of our Galaxy

The redshift-space two-point correlation functions of galaxies and groups in the Nearby Optical Galaxy sample

We use the two-point correlation function in redshift space, $\xi(s)$, to study the clustering of the galaxies and groups of the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, which is a nearly all-sky, complete, magnitude-limited sample of $\sim$7000 bright and nearby optical galaxies. The correlation function of galaxies is well described by a power law, $\xi(s)=(s/s_0)^{-\gamma}$, with slope $\gamma\sim1.5$ and $s_0\sim6.4 h^{-1}$Mpc (on scales $2.7 - 12 h^{-1}$Mpc), in agreement with previous results of several redshift surveys of optical galaxies. We confirm the existence of morphological segregation between early- and late-type galaxies and, in particular, we find a gradual decreasing of the strength of clustering from the S0 galaxies to the late-type spirals, on intermediate scales. Furthermore, luminous galaxies turn out to be more clustered than dim galaxies. The luminosity segregation, which is significant for both early- and late-type objects, starts to become appreciable only for galaxies brighter than $M_B\sim -19.5 + 5 \log h$ ($\sim 0.6 L^*$) and is independent on scale. The NOG group correlation functions are characterized by $s_0$-values ranging from $\sim 8 h^{-1}$ Mpc (for groups with at least three members) to $\sim10 h^{-1}$ Mpc (for groups with at least five members). The degree of group clustering depends on the physical properties of groups. Specifically, groups with greater velocity dispersions, sizes and masses tend to be more clustered than those with lower values of these quantities.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, in press, 72 pages, 16 eps figure

The effect of obesity on electrocardiographic detection of hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy:Recalibration against cardiac magnetic resonance

Electrocardiograph (ECG) criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) are a widely used clinical tool. We recalibrated six ECG criteria for LVH against gold-standard cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and assessed the impact of obesity. One hundred and fifty consecutive tertiary hypertension clinic referrals for CMR (1.5 T) were reviewed. Patients with cardiac pathology potentially confounding hypertensive LVH were excluded (n=22). The final sample size was 128 (age: 51.0±15.2 years, 48% male). LVH was defined by CMR. From a 12-lead ECG, Sokolow–Lyon voltage and product, Cornell voltage and product, Gubner–Ungerleidger voltage and Romhilt–Estes score were evaluated, blinded to the CMR. ECG diagnostic performance was calculated. LVH by CMR was present in 37% and obesity in 51%. Obesity significantly reduced ECG sensitivity, because of significant attenuation in mean ECG values for Cornell voltage (22.2±5.7 vs 26.4±9.4 mm, P<0.05), Cornell product (2540±942 vs 3023±1185 mm • ms, P<0.05) and for Gubner–Ungerleider voltage (18.2±7.1 vs 23.3±1.2 mm, P<0.05). Obesity also significantly reduced ECG specificity, because of significantly higher prevalence of LV remodeling (no LVH but increased mass-to-volume ratio) in obese subjects without LVH (36% vs 16%, P<0.05), which correlated with higher mean ECG LVH criteria values. Obesity-specific partition values were generated at fixed 95% specificity; Cornell voltage had highest sensitivity in non-obese (56%) and Sokolow–Lyon product in obese patients (24%). Obesity significantly lowers ECG sensitivity at detecting LVH, by attenuating ECG LVH values, and lowers ECG specificity through changes associated with LV remodeling. Our obesity-specific ECG partition values could improve the diagnostic performance in obese patients with hypertension

An Alternative Method to Obtain the Quark Polarization of the Nucleon

An alternate method is described to extract the quark contribution to the spin of the nucleon directly from the first moment of the deuteron structure function, $g^d_1$. It is obtained without recourse to the use of input on the nucleon wave function from hyperon decays involving the flavor symmetry parameters, F and D. The result for the quark polarization of the nucleon, $\Delta\Sigma_ N,$ is in good agreement with the values of the singlet axial current matrix element, $a_0$, obtained from recent next-to-leading order analyses of current proton, neutron and deuteron data.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Labour market experiences of young UK Bangladeshi men: Identity, inclusion and exclusion in inner-city London

Detailed qualitative data are used to explore the processes perpetuatinglabour market disadvantage among young UK-Bangladeshi men living in central London. Strong forces of inclusion within the Bangladeshi community are found to interact with forces of exclusion from ‘mainstream’ society to constrain aspirations and limit opportunities. Though diverse forms of young Bangladeshi masculinity are found, a common pattern is heavy dependency on intra-ethnic networks. Negative experiences of and isolation from ‘mainstream’ society further reinforce reliance on ‘our own people’. However, acute ambivalence towards belonging to a dense Bangladeshi community exists, exemplified in the widespread denigration of the restaurant trade. Many respondents express the desire to ‘break out’ and access new experiences. The findings support current policy emphasis on ‘connecting people to work’ but highlight the more fundamental need to connect people across ethnic boundaries. The paper urges researchers to ‘unpack’ ethnicity to consider carefully what ethnic identity implies in terms of access to resources and opportunities for different individuals in different contexts in order better to understand the diversity of labour market outcomes and the persistence of disadvantage