What a girl’s gotta do: the labour of the biopolitical celebrity in austerity Britain

This article debunks the wide-spread view that young female celebrities, especially those who rise to fame through reality shows and other forms of media-orchestrated self-exposure, dodge ‘real’ work out of laziness, fatalism and a misguided sense of entitlement. Instead, we argue that becoming a celebrity in a neoliberal economy such as that of the United Kingdom, where austerity measures disproportionately disadvantage the young, women and the poor is not as irregular or exceptional a choice as previously thought, especially since the precariousness of celebrity earning power adheres to the current demands of the neoliberal economy on its workforce. What is more, becoming a celebrity involves different forms of labour that are best described as biopolitical, since such labour fully involves and consumes the human body and its capacities as a living organism. Weight gain and weight loss, pregnancy, physical transformation through plastic surgery, physical symptoms of emotional distress and even illness and death are all photographically documented and supplemented by extended textual commentary, usually with direct input from the celebrity, reinforcing and expanding on the visual content. As well as casting celebrity work as labour, we also maintain that the workings of celebrity should always be examined in the context of wider cultural and real economies

The Concept of “Smart Settlement” and Basic Principles in the Framework of New Developing Planning Approaches

Urban environment, natural environment and energy requirements are growing in the face of increasing population, urbanization rates and consumption factors. At the same time, new technologies also bring innovation to urban life and process of urban design. Based on this, since the 1990s, new planning approaches and initiatives (greencity, ecocity, liveable city, digital city, smart city initiatives etc.) have been improved to minimise the negative effects of cities on nature and humans, to reduce the pressure of population and urbanization and create effective and liveable cities. The term “Smart City” is a new, ever-developing concept. Although there is not a clear definition yet, it exists within different scenarios of urban development. The concept of “Smart Settlement” reflects the idea of urban reconstruction that makes cities better for humans and nature. The purpose of this study is to explain the smart settlement in a comprehensive manner and reveal the principles of smart settlement within the framework of the current planning approach and various initiatives

Analysis of the binding specificity of dopamine-2 receptor antibodies in paediatric autoimmune movement and psychiatric disorders

Over the last decade, multiple autoantibodies targeting brain proteins and receptors have been identified in adults and children. Autoantibody exposure in the brain can lead to transient or permanent behavioural or cognitive abnormalities. Current treatment options for autoimmune brain-reactive autoantibody-associated diseases include global immunosuppressive therapies, but these can have severe side effects, and are not always efficacious. Understanding the nature and specificity of brain autoantibodies may reveal potential therapeutic strategies alleviating or preventing the neurological pathologies and behavioural abnormalities associated with antibody-mediated brain disorders. Recently, anti-dopamine-2 receptor (D2R) antibodies have been identified in a subgroup of children with autoimmune movement and psychiatric disorders. D2R is an important brain receptor involved a variety of functions including voluntary movement, learning, memory, attention, and hormonal regulation. Currently, knowledge of the function of D2R tertiary structures, including the extracellular N-terminus, is limited, and its role in autoantibody binding is unknown. Here we report a major biological role for D2R extracellular N-terminus as a regulator of receptor surface availability, and as a major epitope targeted in brain autoimmunity. Human embryonic kidney cells were transfected with D2R mutants modified in their extracellular domains, and the level of cell surface expression and epitope specificity of 35 anti-D2R antibody-positive patient sera were analysed using a quantitative flow cytometry assay. We found that N-glycosylation at amino acids N5 and/or N17 was critical for high surface expression via interaction with the last 15 residues of extracellular D2R N-terminus. No anti-D2R antibody-positive patient sera bound to the three extracellular loops, but all patient sera (35/35) targeted the extracellular N-terminus. Overall, patient antibody binding was dependent on two main regions encompassing amino acids 20 to 29, and 23 to 37. Residues 20 to 29 contributed to the majority of binding (77 %, 27/35), among which sera from 26 % (7/27) of patients bound to amino acids R20, P21, and F22, 37 % (10/27) patient sera binding was dependent on residues at positions 26 and 29, and 30% (8/27) sera required R20, P21, F22, N23, D26, and A29. Seven patient sera bound to the region 23 to 37 independently of D26 and A29, but most sera exhibited N-glycosylation-independent epitope recognition at N23. Interestingly, no evident segregation of binding pattern according to patient clinical phenotypes was observed. Finally, we describe the optimisation of a method for single-cell isolation and RT-PCR for the generation of monoclonal antibodies. D2R N-terminus is a central epitope in autoimmune movement and psychiatric disorders, and this knowledge could help the design of novel specific immune therapies tailored to improve patient outcome

Experience of Pain and Satisfaction with Pain Management in Patients After a Lumbar Disc Herniation Surgery

Purpose: The descriptive study was performed to assess patients' pain experienced in the early postoperative period of a lumbar disc herniation surgery and their satisfaction with the pain management administered. Design: This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted from May 8 to November 8, 2017. Methods: Data collection was performed during interviews through the Patient Information Form (20 questions), Turkish version of clinical quality indicators in the Postoperative Pain Management questionnaire (19 questions). The questionnaire included 14 items and 3 subdimensions named nursing interventions, pain management, and the environment. The remaining 5 questions were related to pain management satisfaction and pain severity. Questionnaire items scored on a 1 to 5 Likert scale. The higher the total score obtained from the questionnaire is the satisfaction with pain management increases. Findings: The mean score obtained from the total questionnaire was 51.4 (standard deviation: 6.6).Characteristics of patients with lumbar disc herniation did not influence the total score obtained from the instrument and its sub-dimensions (P .05). Overall satisfaction with pain management was high (mean: 8.3; standard deviation: 1.6) on the 0 to 10 visual analog scale. There was a statistically significant difference between the length of hospital stay, the type of anesthesia used, having more pain than expected, and the satisfaction score of patients (P < .05). As the length of procedure increases, the average and current pain scores increase as well (P < .05). Conclusions: Results of this study indicate that despite pain experienced after the lumbar disc herniation surgery, patients' satisfaction with pain management was high. Encouraging nurses to implement systematic and evidence-based practices in pain management may help alleviate patients' pain after surgery and reduce variety of pain management practices among nurses. (c) 2021 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Gene expression profiling of SARS-CoV-2 infections reveal distinct primary lung cell and systemic immune infection responses that identify pathways relevant in COVID-19 disease

To identify key gene expression pathways altered with infection of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, we performed the largest comparative genomic and transcriptomic analysis to date. We compared the novel pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, as well as influenza A strains H1N1, H3N2 and H5N1. Phylogenetic analysis confirms that SARS-CoV-2 is closely related to SARS-CoV at the level of the viral genome. RNAseq analyses demonstrate that human lung epithelial cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection are distinct. Extensive Gene Expression Omnibus literature screening and drug predictive analyses show that SARS-CoV-2 infection response pathways are closely related to those of SARS-CoV and respiratory syncytial virus infections. We validated SARS-CoV-2 infection response genes as disease-associated using Kaplan-Meier survival estimates in lung disease patient data. We also analysed COVID-19 patient peripheral blood samples, which identified signalling pathway concordance between the primary lung cell and blood cell infection responses

Assessing urban transportation development sustainable transportation perspectives for istanbul turkey

UN Population Revisions indicate that more than 50% of the worlds population has lived in urban areas since 2008 and much of the future urban population increase will be absorbed more by the few metropolitan areas of rapidly growing developing countries (UN, 2008). Due to the accelerated urban growth and uncontrolled urban dispersion through naturally significant peripheral areas, sustainable urban growth management becomes a critical urban development policy in Istanbul. In this respect, the interaction among urban growth, urban transportation, rational land use allocations and sustainable transportation policies has an important role to achieve more sustainable urban development in Istanbul. Istanbul set a unique example of urban spatial development/urban transportation interaction with Bosphorus bridges and the connecting highways. This chapter first addresses urban spatial dispersion and transportation development interaction with special emphasis on the existing and proposed Bosphorus Bridges, and then correlates the results with the recent Transportation Master Plan and Environmental Master Plan. Although the latest Environmental Master Plan prepared by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality foresights the progression of public transit systems and no third bridge crossing on Bosphorus, there is a top-down impact for the third bridge crossing and a road tunnel on Bosphorus by the Central Government. Due to the interaction among spatial dispersion, transportation development and existing infrastructure, proposed bridges, their connected highways and flyovers as well as recent transportation investments of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality are assessed under the light of sustainable urban transportation policies. Document type: Part of book or chapter of boo