Understanding the Impact of (Anti-)Racism on Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation Decision-Making

This article uses critical discourse analysis to interrogate Covid-19 vaccine allocation frameworks created by Johns Hopkins and the National Academies to understand how the authors of these frameworks conceptualized the problem of vaccine hesitancy among people of colour. This article argues these frameworks represent an institutional discourse about vaccine-hesitant racialized people that casts people of colour as mistrustful, conspiracy-prone and unwilling to engage with public health efforts and that this stereotyping undermined the anti-racist potential of these frameworks to address vaccine hesitancy among racialized people by failing to consider how vaccine hesitancy in people of colour can be an attempt to mitigate the untrustworthy nature of US public health institutions. There will undoubtedly be another situation in the future where there are not enough critical health resources for all, and priorities will have to be set. Public health officials need to learn from the Covid-19 experience and will need a far better understanding of the issue of vaccine hesitancy among people of colour

Understanding the Impact of (Anti-)Racism on Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation Decision-Making

This article uses critical discourse analysis to interrogate Covid-19 vaccine allocation frameworks created by Johns Hopkins and the National Academies to understand how the authors of these frameworks conceptualized the problem of vaccine hesitancy among people of colour. This article argues these frameworks represent an institutional discourse about vaccine-hesitant racialized people that casts people of colour as mistrustful, conspiracy-prone and unwilling to engage with public health efforts and that this stereotyping undermined the anti-racist potential of these frameworks to address vaccine hesitancy among racialized people by failing to consider how vaccine hesitancy in people of colour can be an attempt to mitigate the untrustworthy nature of US public health institutions. There will undoubtedly be another situation in the future where there are not enough critical health resources for all, and priorities will have to be set. Public health officials need to learn from the Covid-19 experience and will need a far better understanding of the issue of vaccine hesitancy among people of colour

Aquatic Therapy Interventions and Disability: A Recreational Therapy Perspective

Aquatic therapy interventions are critical for individuals with disabilities and the role of the therapist is just as critical for successful and effective interventions. The field of therapeutic recreation trains students to develop and implement evidence-based facilitation techniques including the use of aquatic therapy to assist in helping clients achieve a change in functional status. This review of the literature examined the impact of aquatic therapy interventions on a variety of disabilities including osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis, Cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, and mental health from a recreational therapy (RT) perspective. This review provides a variety of information on the positive benefits that may occur using aquatic therapy for diverse conditions. Examples include relaxation, stretching, and aerobic exercise and each has the ability to improve strength. It does appear that aquatic therapy interventions can provide a wide array of benefits that may reduce the burden associated with a variety of disabilities. These benefits may be useful in increasing the overall quality of life of a diverse group of disabilities. Likewise, due to the nature of RT, recreational therapists are in a unique position to provide plan and develop aquatic therapy interventions. However, it is the authors’ suggestion that those providing this service attend intensive training in order to provide aquatic therapy effectively. Additional research may be necessary to provide a more cohesive understanding of the impact of aquatic therapy on a variety of populations. Nonetheless, the information gleamed from this review, justify that aquatic therapy has benefits for a diverse clientele and thus may be useful in the implementation of RT programs

Timescale analysis of a mathematical model of acetaminophen metabolism and toxicity

Acetaminophen is a widespread and commonly used painkiller all over the world. However, it can cause liver damage when taken in large doses or at repeated chronic doses. Current models of acetaminophen metabolism are complex, and limited to numerical investigation though provide results that represent clinical investigation well. We derive a mathematical model based on mass action laws aimed at capturing the main dynamics of acetaminophen metabolism, in particular the contrast between normal and overdose cases, whilst remaining simple enough for detailed mathematical analysis that can identify key parameters and quantify their role in liver toxicity. We use singular perturbation analysis to separate the different timescales describing the sequence of events in acetaminophen metabolism, systematically identifying which parameters dominate during each of the successive stages. Using this approach we determined, in terms of the model parameters, the critical dose between safe and overdose cases, timescales for exhaustion and regeneration of important cofactors for acetaminophen metabolism and total toxin accumulation as a fraction of initial dose

The social geography of childcare: 'making up' the middle class child

Childcare is a condensate of disparate social forces and social processes. It is gendered and classed. It is subject to an excess of policy and political discourse. It is increasingly a focus for commercial exploitation. This is a paper reporting on work in progress in an ESRC funded research project (R000239232) on the choice and provision of pre-school childcare by middle class (service class) families in two contrasting London locations. Drawing on recent work in class analysis the paper examines the relationships between childcare choice, middle class fractions and locality. It suggests that on the evidence of the findings to date, there is some evidence of systematic differences between fractions in terms of values, perspectives and preferences for childcare, but a more powerful case for intra-class similarities, particularly when it comes to putting preferences into practice in the 'making up of a middle class child' through care and education

Towards a feminist philosophy of engagements in health-related research

Engagement with publics, patients, and stakeholders is an important part of the health research environment today,and different modalities of 'engaged' health research have proliferated in recent years. Yet, there is no consensus on what, exactly, 'engaging' means, what it should look like, and what the aims, justifications, or motivations for it should be. In this paper, we set out what we see as important, outstanding challenges around the practice and theory of engaging and consider the tensions and possibilities that the diverse landscape of engaging evokes. We examine the roots, present modalities and institutional frameworks that have been erected around engaging, including how they shape and delimit how engagements are framed, enacted, and justified. We inspect the related issue of knowledge production within and through engagements, addressing whether engagements can, or should, be framed as knowledge producing activities. We then unpack the question of how engagements are or could be valued and evaluated, emphasising the plural ways in which 'value' can be conceptualised and generated. We conclude by calling for a philosophy of engagements that can capture the diversity of related practices, concepts and justifications around engagements, and account for the plurality of knowledges and value that engagements engender, while remaining flexible and attentive to the structural conditions under which engagements occur. Such philosophy should be a feminist one, informed by feminist epistemological and methodological approaches to equitable modes of research participation, knowledge production, and valuing. Especially, translating feminist tools of reflexivity and positionality into the sphere of engagements can enable a synergy of empirical, epistemic and normative considerations in developing accounts of engaging in both theory and praxis. Modestly, here, we hope to carve out the starting points for this work