Unprecedented access? : women instrumentalists in punk bands 1976-1984 : an exploration

This study has been undertaken because of a gap in popular music and subcultural history. The significance of the first large influx of women into rock music, as punk instrumentalists in the late 1970s, has been underplayed; instead, women punks have been stereotypically documented. Girls' and womens' roles as producers of music, and their consequent contribution to the sound of punk music, have been subjected to a collective amnesia. Four areas of literature have been reviewed to clarify the reasons for, and extent of the gap: writings on subcultures and scenes, writings on women in rock and pop, writings on the socio-political context, and writings on punk. One of the main foci of the study has been to identify the reasons for the fading away of the presence of women instrumentalists in the early 1980s. I wanted to discover why this phenomenon had such a short time span. The primary research involved a newspaper survey (300 local papers were contacted across Britain) from which 24 useful questionnaires were gleaned; I interviewed 15 women who were in bands at the time, as well as a radio DJ, record company owner, band manager, and several male band members and political activists from the scene. Fanzines, music papers and the feminist magazine Spare Rib have also been referred to extensively. I have also had my own recollections of the time to draw upon. Following the literature review, the study is divided into sections on Access (enabling and empowering factors), Media Gatekeepers and Cultural Intermediaries (external controls and filters), The Brighton Scene (a case study of my own local punk envirom-nent), Noise, Violence and Femininity (the practice of music making by these women, and the resistance to it), the Aftermath (exploring factors contributing to the ending of the moment), and Conclusions.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

E-HR and international HRM: a critical perspective on the discursive framing of e-HR

In the current global economic climate, International HRM is facing unprecedented pressure to become more innovative, effective and efficient. New discourses are emerging around the application of information technology, with ‘e-HR’ (electronic-enablement of Human Resources), self-service portals and promises of improved services couched as various HR ‘value propositions’. This study explores these issues through our engagement with the emergent stream of ‘critical’ HRM, the broader study of organizational discourse, and ethical management theories. We have found that whilst there is growing research into the take-up of e-HR applications, there is a dearth of investigation into the impact of e-HR on the people involved; in particular, the (re) structuring of social relations between HR functions and line managers in the move away from face-to-face HR support services, to more technology-mediated ‘self-service’ relationships. We undertake a close reading of personal narratives from a multi-national organization, deploying a critical discourse lens to examine different dimensions of e-HR. and raise questions about the strong technocratic framing of the international language of people management, shaping line manager enactment of e-HR duties. We argue for a more reflexive stance in the conceptualisation e-HR, and conclude with a discussion about the theoretical and practical implications of our study, limitations and suggestions for future research

Cancer Informatics in the U.K.: The NCRI Informatics Initiative

The arrival of high-throughput technologies in cancer science and medicine has made the possibility for knowledge generation greater than ever before. However, this has brought with it real challenges as researchers struggle to analyse the avalanche of information available to them. A unique U.K.-based initiative has been established to promote data sharing in cancer science and medicine and to address the technical and cultural issues needed to support this

Cytokine and Chemokine Concentrations as Biomarkers of Feline Mycobacteriosis

Abstract Mycobacteriosis is an emerging zoonotic disease of domestic cats and timely, accurate diagnosis is currently challenging. To identify differential cytokine/chemokine concentrations in serum/plasma of cats, which could be diagnostic biomarkers of infection we analysed plasma/serum from 116 mycobacteria-infected cats, 16 healthy controls and six cats hospitalised for unrelated reasons was analysed using the Milliplex MAP Feline Cytokine Magnetic Bead multiplex assay. Three cytokines; sFAS, IL-13 and IL-4 were reduced while seven; GM-CSF, IL-2, PDGF-BB, IL-8, KC, RANTES and TNF-α were elevated in mycobacteria-infected cats compared to healthy controls. However, IL-8 and KC concentrations were not significantly different from cats hospitalised for other reasons. Elevations in TNF-α and PDGF-BB may have potential to identify M. bovis and M. microti infected cats specifically while GM-CSF, IL-2 and FLT3L were increased in MTBC infected cats. This study demonstrates potential use of feline tuberculosis as a spontaneously occurring model of this significant human disease. Cytokine profiling has clear diagnostic potential for mycobacteriosis of cats and could be used discriminate tuberculous from non-tuberculous disease to rapidly inform on zoonotic risk. Future work should focus on the in-field utility of these findings to establish diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of these markers

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<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<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<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 >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