'A different existence altogether' constructing, conditioning and controlling the British soldier's body in the First World War

This thesis examines the processes by which British male civilians became soldiers during the First World War. It contributes to the historiography on the British experience of the war by placing the human body at the centre of the analysis and considering the impact of bodies under the control and care of the British Army. It expands upon the sociological literature of 'the body' by establishing how these theoretical concepts are evident within the empirical research.;Through an analysis of official records and publications, it explores how the state sought to transform the male civilian body for military purposes. A significant aspect of this research stems from the personal experiences of the men who served by painstaking consideration of their letters, diaries, and oral testimonies.;This research illustrates that the body was a core concern for the British military as well as being central in perceptions of physical worth within British society during the First World War. Between 1914-1918 British men's bodies were assessed, categorised, improved, damaged, recovered, repaired and destroyed. From enlistment to the end of service, soldier's bodies were repurposed for the pursuit of victory as the British military and the government focused on constructing, conditioning and controlling the bodies of regular, territorial, volunteer and conscript soldiers.;In a letter to his mother, Lieutenant Godfrey classified the war as a 'different existence altogether' and indeed it was for many men whose bodies became fitter, healthier, and more skilled, while paradoxically also allowing them to resist military control, be wounded, harm their own bodies, and die. This work, therefore, explores the male military body within the chaos of the First World War, not simply as a faceless man in uniform but an individual whose body was a site of conflict focused on agency, indoctrination and military service.This thesis examines the processes by which British male civilians became soldiers during the First World War. It contributes to the historiography on the British experience of the war by placing the human body at the centre of the analysis and considering the impact of bodies under the control and care of the British Army. It expands upon the sociological literature of 'the body' by establishing how these theoretical concepts are evident within the empirical research.;Through an analysis of official records and publications, it explores how the state sought to transform the male civilian body for military purposes. A significant aspect of this research stems from the personal experiences of the men who served by painstaking consideration of their letters, diaries, and oral testimonies.;This research illustrates that the body was a core concern for the British military as well as being central in perceptions of physical worth within British society during the First World War. Between 1914-1918 British men's bodies were assessed, categorised, improved, damaged, recovered, repaired and destroyed. From enlistment to the end of service, soldier's bodies were repurposed for the pursuit of victory as the British military and the government focused on constructing, conditioning and controlling the bodies of regular, territorial, volunteer and conscript soldiers.;In a letter to his mother, Lieutenant Godfrey classified the war as a 'different existence altogether' and indeed it was for many men whose bodies became fitter, healthier, and more skilled, while paradoxically also allowing them to resist military control, be wounded, harm their own bodies, and die. This work, therefore, explores the male military body within the chaos of the First World War, not simply as a faceless man in uniform but an individual whose body was a site of conflict focused on agency, indoctrination and military service

Synthesizing super soldiers: Military medicine in fiction and reality

In the year 2013, during the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, the title character finally faced the demons of his past that the series had been teasing for almost a decade. In a retrospective reveal the Doctor was depicted as rejecting his eight incarnation in favour of a crueller militaristic version to allow him to battle in the Time War. Previously the heroic benevolent explorer, the character’s tenure as the combative ‘War Doctor’ demanded an identity change that had psychological ramifications for nearly 1300 years across the Doctor’s ‘final’ three regenerations. While fictional, the Doctor’s transformation and subsequent trauma are a recurrent aspect of early 20th century military indoctrination and readjustment. As a result of the First World War, civilian combatants were forced to sacrifice their agency and personal morality to become soldiers. The medicalisation of the body for military purposes was a hallmark of the twentieth century. This article investigates this similarity between fiction and reality in relation to military medicine, and the physical and psychological impacts of such, by comparing popular science fictions such as Doctor Who, Marvel’s Captain America, and Joss Whedon’s Firefly to the reality of military service, training, and experimentation in the twentieth century

Investigating sustainability in work after participating in a welfare-to-work initiative using a 2-year cohort study of Work Programme participants in Scotland

Objectives: This study investigated sustainability and multimorbidity alongside barriers to employment including health and policy to demonstrate intersectional impact on return-to-work success within a UK welfare-to-work programme. Design: Cohort study design: The study calculated the proportion of time spent employed after experiencing a job start and the proportion retaining work over 6 months. Employment/unemployment periods were calculated, sequence-index plots were produced and visualisations were explored by benefit type and age. Setting: This study used confidential access to deidentified data from unemployed Work Programme clients operated by Ingeus on behalf of the UK Government in Scotland between 1 April 2013 and 31 July 2014. Participants: 13 318 unemployed clients aged 18–64 years were randomly allocated to a Work Programme provider and monitored over 2 years. Results: This study has two distinct groupings. ‘Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)’ corresponding to those with work-limiting disability in receipt of related state financial support, and ‘Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)’ corresponding to unemployment claimants. Despite fewer and later job starts for ESA clients, those that gained employment spend relatively more subsequent time in employment when compared with individuals without work-limiting conditions (ESA clients under 50, 0.73; ESA clients over 50, 0.79; JSA clients under 50, 0.67 and JSA clients over 50, 0.68). Proportion in permanent jobs was higher among ESA than JSA clients (JSA under 50, 92%; JSA over 50, 92%; ESA under 50, 95% and ESA over 50, 97%). Conclusion: The research demonstrated that returning to paid employment after a reliance on welfare benefits is challenging for people aged over 50 and those with disability. The study found that although fewer older ESA claimants entered employment, they typically remained in employment more than JSA clients who did not leave the Work Programme early. This indicates the importance of identifying risk factors for job loss in ageing workers and the development of interventions for extension of working lives

The theory of the firm and its critics: a stocktaking and assessment

Includes bibliographical references."Prepared for Jean-Michel Glachant and Eric Brousseau, eds. New Institutional Economics: A Textbook, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.""This version: August 22, 2005."Since its emergence in the 1970s the modern economic or Coasian theory of the firm has been discussed and challenged by sociologists, heterodox economists, management scholars, and other critics. This chapter reviews and assesses these critiques, focusing on behavioral issues (bounded rationality and motivation), process (including path dependence and the selection argument), entrepreneurship, and the challenge from knowledge-based theories of the firm

Meta-analyses identify DNA methylation associated with kidney function and damage

Chronic kidney disease is a major public health burden. Elevated urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio is a measure of kidney damage, and used to diagnose and stage chronic kidney disease. To extend the knowledge on regulatory mechanisms related to kidney function and disease, we conducted a blood-based epigenome-wide association study for estimated glomerular filtration rate (n = 33,605) and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (n = 15,068) and detected 69 and seven CpG sites where DNA methylation was associated with the respective trait. The majority of these findings showed directionally consistent associations with the respective clinical outcomes chronic kidney disease and moderately increased albuminuria. Associations of DNA methylation with kidney function, such as CpGs at JAZF1, PELI1 and CHD2 were validated in kidney tissue. Methylation at PHRF1, LDB2, CSRNP1 and IRF5 indicated causal effects on kidney function. Enrichment analyses revealed pathways related to hemostasis and blood cell migration for estimated glomerular filtration rate, and immune cell activation and response for urinary albumin-to-creatinineratio-associated CpGs

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is associated with a variant in low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality and has a significant heritability. We carried out a genome-wide association discovery study of 1866 patients with AAA and 5435 controls and replication of promising signals (lead SNP with a p value < 1 × 10-5) in 2871 additional cases and 32,687 controls and performed further follow-up in 1491 AAA and 11,060 controls. In the discovery study, nine loci demonstrated association with AAA (p < 1 × 10-5). In the replication sample, the lead SNP at one of these loci, rs1466535, located within intron 1 of low-density-lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) demonstrated significant association (p = 0.0042). We confirmed the association of rs1466535 and AAA in our follow-up study (p = 0.035). In a combined analysis (6228 AAA and 49182 controls), rs1466535 had a consistent effect size and direction in all sample sets (combined p = 4.52 × 10-10, odds ratio 1.15 [1.10-1.21]). No associations were seen for either rs1466535 or the 12q13.3 locus in independent association studies of coronary artery disease, blood pressure, diabetes, or hyperlipidaemia, suggesting that this locus is specific to AAA. Gene-expression studies demonstrated a trend toward increased LRP1 expression for the rs1466535 CC genotype in arterial tissues; there was a significant (p = 0.029) 1.19-fold (1.04-1.36) increase in LRP1 expression in CC homozygotes compared to TT homozygotes in aortic adventitia. Functional studies demonstrated that rs1466535 might alter a SREBP-1 binding site and influence enhancer activity at the locus. In conclusion, this study has identified a biologically plausible genetic variant associated specifically with AAA, and we suggest that this variant has a possible functional role in LRP1 expression

The trans-ancestral genomic architecture of glycemic traits

Glycemic traits are used to diagnose and monitor type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic health. To date, most genetic studies of glycemic traits have focused on individuals of European ancestry. Here we aggregated genome-wide association studies comprising up to 281,416 individuals without diabetes (30% non-European ancestry) for whom fasting glucose, 2-h glucose after an oral glucose challenge, glycated hemoglobin and fasting insulin data were available. Trans-ancestry and single-ancestry meta-analyses identified 242 loci (99 novel; P < 5 x 10(-8)), 80% of which had no significant evidence of between-ancestry heterogeneity. Analyses restricted to individuals of European ancestry with equivalent sample size would have led to 24 fewer new loci. Compared with single-ancestry analyses, equivalent-sized trans-ancestry fine-mapping reduced the number of estimated variants in 99% credible sets by a median of 37.5%. Genomic-feature, gene-expression and gene-set analyses revealed distinct biological signatures for each trait, highlighting different underlying biological pathways. Our results increase our understanding of diabetes pathophysiology by using trans-ancestry studies for improved power and resolution. A trans-ancestry meta-analysis of GWAS of glycemic traits in up to 281,416 individuals identifies 99 novel loci, of which one quarter was found due to the multi-ancestry approach, which also improves fine-mapping of credible variant sets.Peer reviewe

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio