A rough life: exploring the involvement of street children in organised crime in Dhaka

Street children in Dhaka are hired by 'mastaans' to carry weapons, sell drugs, collect extortion money, commit political violence and conduct contract killings. While exploring the involvement of street children in organised crime groups Dr Sally Atkinson-Sheppard explains why they are neither victims nor offenders. They are instead 'illicit labourers', doing what they can to survive on the streets

Collaborations, Connections & Participation: An ethnographic study of dementia research in the UK

This thesis examines the question: How is biomedical research in the field of dementia enacted? I address this question using ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and document analysis conducted between September 2010 and March 2014, which examine the relations involved in the emergence of a national dementia research agenda in the UK. Over the last decade in the UK ‘dementia’ has become characterised as the public health crisis of our time. The sense of crisis around the conditions covered by this umbrella term is exacerbated by a global trend toward increased longevity and acute awareness of the limitations of existing treatments. In 2011 the UK Department of Health, in collaboration with national research organisations, announced the launch of an integrated dementia research strategy. Taking a historical and emergent perspective on research into aging, neurodegenerative diseases and the concept of ‘dementia’, this examination demonstrates how the evolving research initiative marks a shift in the process of co-production which exists between science, policy and publics in the UK. Using a detailed examination of linguistic and visual material from the perspective of science policy and practice, the thesis demonstrates how shifts in biotechnology make conditions described under the umbrella of ‘dementias’ differently visible. The scientific narratives which accompany this changing visibility, present dementias as a challenging target for social and scientific intervention. In response to this complexity, the research agenda focuses on the relationships and interactions between the multiple stakeholders involved. A rhetoric-based analysis demonstrates how researchers use such collaborations to try and remake the connections between aging, dementia, science and social responsibility. I argue that this process of breaking and remaking such connections is part of persuasive attempt to embed patients, participants and publics in the conduct of clinical research. This ethnographic description demonstrates how this process of embedded engagement is not without challenge. Researchers feel increasingly exposed to public expectations and frustrations which exist beyond the control of the ‘citadel’ of science (Martin 1998). Thus through cyclical re-workings of narratives of success and failure, hope and possibility, researchers involved in the development of new interventions for dementia diagnosis and treatment attempt to balance the tension between the rhetoric of future potential products and their day-to-day experience of the scientific process. Thus the thesis demonstrates how the development of new interventions is a continual negotiation of uncertainties and anxieties for both researchers and their participants. The thesis contributes to a growing literature on the complexity of biomedical research and knowledge making

Studies of multiheme proteins from the disimilatory metal reducing bacteria Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and Geobacter sulfurreducens

Genomic analysis of the dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA has shown that both are capable of expressing an unprecedented number of multiheme cytochromes. The isolation and characterisation of two of the multiheme cytochromes from these bacteria is the subject of this thesis. Octaheme tetrathionate reductase (OTR) from Shewanella oneidensis has been previously shown to catalyse the reduction of tetrathionate to thiosulfate (Rothery, 2003). Despite having an amino-acid sequence suggesting the presence of eight standard CXXCH hemeattachment motifs, the crystal structure of OTR has shown the enzyme to contain seven normally-coordinated bis-histidine-ligated hemes, with one unusual lysine-coordinated heme at the active site. Analysis of the structure of this enzyme has shown its heme architecture to have a significant similarity to those of hydroxylamine oxidoreductase and the pentaheme cytochrome c nitrite reductases. An improved protocol for the purification of OTR has been developed, and work has been carried out in order to identify further possible substrates for the enzyme. Results show that OTR is capable of reducing nitrite, hydroxylamine, nitrous oxide and nitric oxide, suggesting that OTR may have a role as a nitrogen cycle enzyme. In particular, the reactions of OTR with hydroxylamine and nitrite have been shown to be more efficient than that with tetrathionate (kcat / KM = 5.3 x 105 M^-1 s^-1 and 3.9 x 105 M^-1 s^-1 respectively). The product of the reactions of nitrite and hydroxylamine with OTR has been directly detected in solution and shown to be the ammonium ion. This activity is consistent with a nitrogen cycle enzyme, with the conversion of nitrite to ammonium representing a “short cut” in the cycle, as performed by the cytochrome c nitrite reductases. In addition to this, site-directed mutagenesis has been used to investigate the catalytic properties of key active site residues, including the unusual heme-ligating lysine. The complete genome sequence of Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA was determined in 2003 and genomic analysis predicted the presence of a putative octaheme protein, GSU0357. This protein was predicted to contain an unusual CXXCK heme-binding amino acid motif and showed a high sequence similarity to the pentaheme cytochrome c nitrite reductase from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 27774. The purification of GSU0357 has been non-trivial and a range of approaches have been used. The ability of GSU0357 to act as a nitrite reductase has been confirmed

Heated aquatic microcosms for climate change experiments

Ponds and shallow lakes are likely to be strongly affected by climate change, and by increase in environmental temperature in particular. Hydrological regimes and nutrient cycling may be altered, plant and animal communities may undergo changes in both composition and dynamics, and long-term and difficult to reverse switches between alternative stable equilibria may occur. A thorough understanding of the potential effects of increased temperature on ponds and shallow lakes is desirable because these ecosystems are of immense importance throughout the world as sources of drinking water, and for their amenity and conservation value. This understanding can only come through experimental studies in which the effects of different temperature regimes are compared. This paper reports design details and operating characteristics of a recently constructed experimental facility consisting of 48 aquatic microcosms which mimic the pond and shallow lake environment. Thirty-two of the microcosms can be heated and regulated to simulate climate change scenarios, including those predicted for the UK. The authors also summarise the current and future experimental uses of the microcosms

Fundamental aspects of imaging matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry.

Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry imaging is a recent addition to the existing family of molecular imaging technologies. It has the capacity to map the distribution of molecules within a biological tissue section, without the need for radionuclide or fluorescent labelling procedures. The primary aim of the work presented in this thesis was to assess the use of a high repetition rate laser for MALDI-MS image analysis by developing methodologies for the detection of a number of different compounds from a variety of biological tissues. Additional investigations include and examination of strategies for normalisation and statistical interpretation of MALDI-MS image data. The application of a solvent assisted indirect imaging approach for the analysis of drugs in skin is described. Studies have been carried out in order to gauge how the use of a solvent in the blotting process aids the indirect imaging technique. Further experiments have been performed to assess the level of analyte migration induced by incorporation of a sample wetting step. In a direct tissue imaging experiment the distribution of a prodrug and its active metabolite has been determined in treated tumour tissue. Endogenous markers have been employed to assist in determining correlation between drug activation and hypoxic regions within tumours. Different methods of data normalisation are investigated for their effects on image data, and statistical evaluation of MALDI-MS acquired image data have been examined in relation to extracting hidden variables from multidimensional image data sets

State Folk Arts Programs: Achievements, Challenges And Needs

State Arts Agencies Folk Arts Peer Group Planning Committee in association with the American Folklore Society National Assembly of State Arts Agencies National Endowment for the Arts, Folk and Traditional Arts Progra

Knowledge mobilisation for policy development: Implementing systems approaches through participatory dynamic simulation modelling

Background: Evidence-based decision-making is an important foundation for health policy and service planning decisions, yet there remain challenges in ensuring that the many forms of available evidence are considered when decisions are being made. Mobilising knowledge for policy and practice is an emergent process, and one that is highly relational, often messy and profoundly context dependent. Systems approaches, such as dynamic simulation modelling can be used to examine both complex health issues and the context in which they are embedded, and to develop decision support tools. Objective: This paper reports on the novel use of participatory simulation modelling as a knowledge mobilization tool in Australian real-world policy settings. We describe how this approach combined systems science methodology and some of the core elements of knowledge mobilisation best practice. We describe the strategies adopted in three case studies to address both technical and socio-political issues, and compile the experiential lessons derived. Finally, we consider the implications of these knowledge mobilisation case studies and provide evidence for the feasibility of this approach in policy development settings. Conclusion: Participatory dynamic simulation modelling builds on contemporary knowledge mobilisation approaches for health stakeholders to collaborate and explore policy and health service scenarios for priority public health topics. The participatory methods place the decision-maker at the centre of the process and embed deliberative methods and co-production of knowledge. The simulation models function as health policy and programme dynamic decision support tools that integrate diverse forms of evidence, including research evidence, expert knowledge and localized contextual information. Further research is underway to determine the impact of these methods on health service decision-making