Mortality Among Adults With Intellectual Disability in England: Comparisons With the General Population.

OBJECTIVES: To describe mortality among adults with intellectual disability in England in comparison with the general population. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study from 2009 to 2013 using data from 343 general practices. Adults with intellectual disability (n = 16 666; 656 deaths) were compared with age-, gender-, and practice-matched controls (n = 113 562; 1358 deaths). RESULTS: Adults with intellectual disability had higher mortality rates than controls (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.3, 3.9). This risk remained high after adjustment for comorbidity, smoking, and deprivation (HR = 3.1; 95% CI = 2.7, 3.4); it was even higher among adults with intellectual disability and Down syndrome or epilepsy. A total of 37.0% of all deaths among adults with intellectual disability were classified as being amenable to health care intervention, compared with 22.5% in the general population (HR = 5.9; 95% CI = 5.1, 6.8). CONCLUSIONS: Mortality among adults with intellectual disability is markedly elevated in comparison with the general population, with more than a third of deaths potentially amenable to health care interventions. This mortality disparity suggests the need to improve access to, and quality of, health care among people with intellectual disability. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print June 16, 2016: e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303240)

2018: Art & Mobilities Network Inaugural Symposium Instant Journal (Peter Scott Gallery)

"Mobilities has been gaining momentum through networks, conferences, books, special issues, exhibitions and in the practices of artists, writers and curators. In recognition of this activity we are forming an Art & Mobilities network through which to consolidate, celebrate and develop this work.Inspired by the recent foregrounding of Mobility and the Humanities (Pearce & Merriman, 2018) and drawing on last November's successful Mobile Utopia Exhibition amongst others, the Centre for Mobilities Research (CEMORE) at Lancaster University are pleased to hold a UK Art & Mobilities Network Inaugural Symposium 2018 on the 3rd of July 2018. The aim of the symposium is to bring together people in the UK who are active in the field of mobilities and art in order to discuss the distinctive contribution that art makes to mobilities research and vice versa. We would be delighted if you can join us for this one-day event to help shape the network, particularly in the context of a fast-changing world, not just socio-politically but in terms of the place of art in the academy and vice versa. There are nearly 30 key international artists and researchers gathered on this day both locally and via Skype. We invite all participants in the symposium to bring with them an artwork, artefact, written statement or quote that can be displayed as a ‘pop up’ exhibition. These artefacts will be used during the day to focus discussion around different facets of mobilities and art." (Jen Southern, Kai Syng Tan, Emma Rose, Linda O'Keeffe Editors

'Found Collaboration', and the art of leaving things for others to find and use

In my current practice-based PhD, my video art and printmaking both informs and is informed by the research. My research on creative communities online is tied to visual image practice within the virtual world of Second Life; however, I also bridge outside of the virtual space to reconsider the dynamics between realities and technologies. This approach rejects “digital exceptionalism” by playing with how the digital, analog and digitized have become defined, and by reworking their historic meanings across time. My video art practice is experimental rather than based on narrative or a simple record. The latter is what “machinima,” the name given to videos made within games worlds, has mainly become. My work uses found collaboration, where people make work available for reuse without knowing who might use it, or for what purpose. This is different from conventional collaboration, planned by a group of people with shared vision. Found collaboration uses material that crosses both time and space, deliberately playing with challenges, trying to make new connections, giving old ideas a new significance, and exploring non-realistic glitch and error. “Found collaboration” depends on the spaces outside of copyright, in particular Creative Commons and public domain. Creative Commons allows the work to have designated conditions for reuse, with an obligation for users to credit and apply similar conditions to the new work that has been made; ethical rather than commercial concerns prevail. Public domain allows free use of material, though the extension of copyright for commercial reasons has restricted its breadth

Falling between Worlds:Catalogue of video art 2016-2020

A catalogue of around forty pieces of video art made from 2016-2020 out of the virtual world of Second Life. It describes the settings and connections with other 'residents' of the virtual world, as well as creative commons music works and archive film from various online sources

Falling between worlds:The comings and goings of a virtual itinerant wayfarer in a creative community

Second Life is a long established virtual world, set up as a user created space, rather than a games studio designed product. This longevity is interesting, providing an example of how humans can develop a presence in virtual space, and where people, re-embodied as avatars, interact socially and make things imaginatively and artistically. My avataric pseudonym in this world is Tizzy Canucci. Within the research, I use the insights of an insider wanting to share my experiences outwards, through words and video art, rather than being a distanced visitor. This engages with the aim of both autoethnography and practice based or led research, an important part of which is to articulate a critical approach to being an objective inside observer. This approach of research from creation is also a multi-disciplinary one, connecting widely, but most significantly to geography, film, literature and history. As a geographic and cartographic spatial exercise, the research positions itself as research enquiry rather than answering research questions, as exploring and discovering rather than starting with a preconceived frame. The various terminologies of film, video, moving image, animation and machinima, are discussed across time and material forms. I resist the label of ‘machinima’ for my practice as being too contained within digital game worlds. Exploring connections with feminist experimental film, animation and imaginative expressionism provides important insights, which leads to ‘video art’ as a better compromise. In terms of literature, translation and literary theory consider how humans communicate understanding through language, and extending it to understand how visual and audio material inter-relate as languages is a productive approach, rather than seeing technologies as mediating and determining. These wider connections also see digital in its historical context, as a recent technological and social innovation of many – more pervasive, but not exceptional – giving a nuanced understanding of digital culture

RS-127445: a selective, high affinity, orally bioavailable 5-HT(2B) receptor antagonist

1. Efforts to define precisely the role of 5-HT(2B) receptors in normal and disease processes have been hindered by the absence of selective antagonists. To address this deficiency, we developed a series of naphthylpyrimidines as potentially useful 5-HT(2B) receptor antagonists. 2. RS-127445 (2-amino-4-(4-fluoronaphth-1-yl)-6-isopropylpyrimidine) was found to have nanomolar affinity for the 5-HT(2B) receptor (pK(i)=9.5±0.1) and 1,000 fold selectivity for this receptor as compared to numerous other receptor and ion channel binding sites. 3. In cells expressing human recombinant 5-HT(2B) receptors, RS-127445 potently antagonized 5-HT-evoked formation of inositol phosphates (pK(B)=9.5±0.1) and 5-HT-evoked increases in intracellular calcium (pIC(50)=10.4±0.1). RS-127445 also blocked 5-HT-evoked contraction of rat isolated stomach fundus (pA(2)=9.5±1.1) and (±)α-methyl-5-HT-mediated relaxation of the rat jugular vein (pA(2)=9.9±0.3). RS-127445 had no detectable intrinsic activity in these assays. 4. In rats, the fraction of RS-127445 that was bioavailable via the oral or intraperitoneal routes was 14 and 60% respectively. Intraperitoneal administration of RS-127445 (5 mg kg(−1)) produced plasma concentrations predicted to fully saturate accessible 5-HT(2B) receptors for at least 4 h. 5. In conclusion, RS-127445 is a selective, high affinity 5-HT(2B) receptor antagonist suitable for use in vivo. The therapeutic potential of this molecule is being further evaluated