Impatient Griseldas: Women and the Perpetration of Violence in Sixteenth-Century Glasgow

There have been several recent studies of late medieval and early modern women's verbal assertiveness, but less attention has been paid to their role as aggressors in physical assaults. This article examines the gendered nature of such attacks in sixteenth-century Glasgow and argues that women's involvement in the perpetration of violence was more common than is often suggested. Examining and comparing the characteristics of female and male assaults, including the role of accomplices, the involvement of the household, the use and the type of weapons, and the forms of the attacks, the article argues that such studies can shed light on the gendered aspects of women's and men's lives in a sixteenth-century local community

User requirements

Boyle, E., & MacArthur, E. (2013). User requirements. CHERMUG deliverable D13.Research methods and statistics are core competences across various disciplines but pose significant challenges for many students. The CHERMUG project aims to develop a digital game to support students in acquiring methodological and statistical expertise. A key issue that has to be addressed in developing a game is to identify the desired learning outcomes for students. This deliverable describes the user requirements analysis. The aim of the user requirements analysis was to establish the general attitudes to and acceptance of higher education nursing students and staff in the collaborating countries towards the use of digital games as a component of a blended learning approach to teaching methods and statistics to nursesThe present work was carried out as part of the CHERMUG project. This project is partially supported by the European Community under the Lifelong Learning Programme project nr. 519023-LLP-1-2011-1-UK-KA3-KA3MP. This document does not represent the opinion of the European Community, and the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of its content

Scottish Portias: Women in the Courts in Mediaeval Scottish Towns

By studying the fifteenth and early sixteenth-century records of several Scottish towns, this paper examines the roles of women in the town courts of mediaeval Scotland. It argues that, although women faced certain legal disadvantages, they were able to make use of the courts to advance their own interests. An examination of the actions of these women shows that the legal restrictions were often flouted in practice, with women arguing their own cases and even occasionally acting as procurators for others. This case study points out the necessity of examining the practical application of the law as well as legal codes and treatises before reaching conclusions about women s status. By showing the active part which women took in the legal life of the town, it also suggests that Scottish urban history needs to take into account women's experiences in reconstructing the life of mediaeval towns.Cet article utilise les archives judiciaires de plusieurs villes écossaises du XVe siècle et du début du XVIe siècle pour tenter de cerner le rôle des femmes dans les cours de l'Ecosse médiévales. Malgré les barrières légales qu'elles y rencontraient, les femmes furent capables d'utiliser ces cours à leur avantage. Souvent, faisant fi des restrictions légales, des cours autorisèrent des femmes à défendre leur propre cas et, à l'occasion, à agir comme procureur pour d'autres. Cette étude de cas signale combien il est important d'aller voir la façon dont lois, codes et traités furent appliqués dans les faits avant de risquer des généralisations sur le statut des femmes. En soulignant le rôle actif qu' elles jouèrent dans la vie judiciaire de la ville, elle invite les historiens de l'Ecosse urbaine à considérer davantage les expériences des femmes dans leurs travaux de reconstruction de la vie au moyen âge

Decoupling a tandem-repeat protein: Impact of multiple loop insertions on a modular scaffold

Abstract: The simple topology and modular architecture of tandem-repeat proteins such as tetratricopeptide repeats (TPRs) and ankyrin repeats makes them straightforward to dissect and redesign. Repeat-protein stability can be manipulated in a predictable way using site-specific mutations. Here we explore a different type of modification - loop insertion - that will enable a simple route to functionalisation of this versatile scaffold. We previously showed that a single loop insertion has a dramatically different effect on stability depending on its location in the repeat array. Here we dissect this effect by a combination of multiple and alternated loop insertions to understand the origins of the context-dependent loss in stability. We find that the scaffold is remarkably robust in that its overall structure is maintained. However, adjacent repeats are now only weakly coupled, and consequently the increase in solvent protection, and thus stability, with increasing repeat number that defines the tandem-repeat protein class is lost. Our results also provide us with a rulebook with which we can apply these principles to the design of artificial repeat proteins with precisely tuned folding landscapes and functional capabilities, thereby paving the way for their exploitation as a versatile and truly modular platform in synthetic biology

Expression of RUNX1 correlates with poor patient prognosis in triple negative breast cancer

The RUNX1 transcription factor is widely recognised for its tumour suppressor effects in leukaemia. Recently a putative link to breast cancer has started to emerge, however the function of RUNX1 in breast cancer is still unknown. To investigate if RUNX1 expression was important to clinical outcome in primary breast tumours a tissue microarray (TMA) containing biopsies from 483 patients with primary operable invasive ductal breast cancer was stained by immunohistochemistry. RUNX1 was associated with progesterone receptor (PR)-positive tumours (P<0.05), more tumour CD4+(P<0.05) and CD8+(P<0.01) T-lymphocytic infiltrate, increased tumour CD138+plasma cell (P<0.01) and more CD68+macrophage infiltrate (P<0.001). RUNX1 expression did not influence outcome of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive or HER2-positive disease, however on univariate analysis a high RUNX1 protein was significantly associated with poorer cancer-specific survival in patients with ER-negative (P<0.05) and with triple negative (TN) invasive breast cancer (P<0.05). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis of cancer-specific survival showed a trend towards significance in ER-negative patients (P<0.1) and was significant in triple negative patients (P<0.05). Of relevance, triple negative breast cancer currently lacks good biomarkers and patients with this subtype do not benefit from the option of targeted therapy unlike patients with ER-positive or HER2-positive disease. Using multivariate analysis RUNX1 was identified as an independent prognostic marker in the triple negative subgroup. Overall, our study identifies RUNX1 as a new prognostic indicator correlating with poor prognosis specifically in the triple negative subtype of human breast cancer

Using data assimilation to optimize pedotransfer functions using field-scale in situ soil moisture observations

Soil moisture predictions from land surface models are important in hydrological, ecological, and meteorological applications. In recent years, the availability of wide-area soil moisture measurements has increased, but few studies have combined model-based soil moisture predictions with in situ observations beyond the point scale. Here we show that we can markedly improve soil moisture estimates from the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) land surface model using field-scale observations and data assimilation techniques. Rather than directly updating soil moisture estimates towards observed values, we optimize constants in the underlying pedotransfer functions, which relate soil texture to JULES soil physics parameters. In this way, we generate a single set of newly calibrated pedotransfer functions based on observations from a number of UK sites with different soil textures. We demonstrate that calibrating a pedotransfer function in this way improves the soil moisture predictions of a land surface model at 16 UK sites, leading to the potential for better flood, drought, and climate projections

Genomic Analysis of Companion Rabbit Staphylococcus aureus.

In addition to being an important human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus is able to cause a variety of infections in numerous other host species. While the S. aureus strains causing infection in several of these hosts have been well characterised, this is not the case for companion rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), where little data are available on S. aureus strains from this host. To address this deficiency we have performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing and genome sequencing on a collection of S. aureus isolates from companion rabbits. The findings show a diverse S. aureus population is able to cause infection in this host, and while antimicrobial resistance was uncommon, the isolates possess a range of known and putative virulence factors consistent with a diverse clinical presentation in companion rabbits including severe abscesses. We additionally show that companion rabbit isolates carry polymorphisms within dltB as described as underlying host-adaption of S. aureus to farmed rabbits. The availability of S. aureus genome sequences from companion rabbits provides an important aid to understanding the pathogenesis of disease in this host and in the clinical management and surveillance of these infections.This project was supported by internal funding from the School of Biological, Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, University of Hull (GKP), a Medical Research Council (MRC) Partnership Grant (G1001787/1) (MAH and JP), and the Wellcome Trust, Grant number 098051 (JP).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLOS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.015145

A narrative literature review of games, animations and simulations to teach research methods and statistics

Basic competence in research methods and statistics is core for many undergraduates but many students experience difficulties in acquiring knowledge and skills in this area. Interest has recently turned to serious games as providing engaging ways of learning. The CHERMUG project was developed against this background to develop games to support students in learning about research methods and statistics. As a first step in designing the CHERMUG games a narrative literature review was carried out to establish whether similar games, animations and simulations already existed. Search terms used in the literature review included varied terms for digital games, simulations and animations, terms relevant to the twin goals of learning and engagement in games and terms for research methods and statistics. Application of the inclusion criteria led to 26 papers which were considered relevant. Synthesis of the papers suggested that there is reason to be optimistic that a game-based approach might be effective in learning in this area.This research was supported by a grant from the European Community under the Lifelong Learning Programme project nr. 519023-LLP-1- 2011-1-UK-KA3-KA3MP