Whereabouts you are

•‘Whereabouts you are’ was an exhibition of work by ten Glasgow School of Art PhD Researchers, curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts) • The exhibition ran from Saturday 15th October to Thursday 10th November in The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art ‘Whereabouts you are’ explored the diverse research practices of the Glasgow School of Art PhD cohort. Bringing together researchers from disciplines across the fields of Fine Art and Design, the exhibition posed a number of questions about the role of arts practice in academic research, its unique character, and its particular challenges. For the exhibiting researchers, pinpointing whereabouts you are is about marking a particular moment in the research process, pausing to reflect and take stock of their individual journey so far and to consider the next steps. In that spirit, rather than deferring the questions posed by the exhibition, they tackled them head-on through accompanying events organised in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Arts. By bringing their work out of the studio, the group hoped to not only shed light on the thought-provoking and innovative research undertaken at Glasgow School of Art, but to enliven the research through conversation with its new audience. The exhibiting researchers were: • Eszter Biró (School of Fine Art) • Jacqueline Butler (School of Fine Art) • Mirian Calvo (Institute for Design Innovation) • Inês Bento Coelho (School of Fine Art) • Allyson Keehan (School of Fine Art) • Fiona Jane MacLellan (Institute for Design Innovation) • Catherine M. Weir (School of Fine Art) • Dawn Worsley (School of Fine Art) • Hanan Makki Zakari (School of Simulation and Visualisation) • Polina Zioga (School of Simulation and Visualisation). Curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts)

Whereabouts you are

'Whereabouts you are' was an exhibition of work by ten Glasgow School of Art Ph.D. Researchers, curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow). The exhibition ran from Saturday 15th October to Thursday 10th November 2016 in The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art. 'Whereabouts you are' explored the diverse research practices of the Glasgow School of Art Ph.D. cohort. Bringing together researchers from disciplines across the fields of Fine Art and Design, the exhibition posed a number of questions about the role of arts practice in academic research, its unique character, and its particular challenges. For the exhibiting researchers, pinpointing 'whereabouts you are' is about marking a particular moment in the research process, pausing to reflect and take stock of their individual journey so far and to consider the next steps. In that spirit, rather than deferring the questions posed by the exhibition, they tackled them head-on through accompanying events organised in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow. By bringing their work out of the studio, the group hoped to not only shed light on the thought-provoking and innovative research undertaken at Glasgow School of Art, but to enliven the research through conversation with its new audience. The exhibiting researchers were: • Eszter Biró (School of Fine Art) • Jacqueline Butler (School of Fine Art) • Mirian Calvo (Institute for Design Innovation) • Inês Bento Coelho (School of Fine Art) • Allyson Keehan (School of Fine Art) • Fiona Jane MacLellan (Institute for Design Innovation) • Catherine M. Weir (School of Fine Art) • Dawn Worsley (School of Fine Art) • Hanan Makki Zakari (School of Simulation and Visualisation) • Polina Zioga (School of Simulation and Visualisation)

INTREPID:single- versus multiple-inhaler triple therapy for COPD in usual clinical practice

INTRODUCTION: Real-world trial data comparing single- with multiple-inhaler triple therapy (MITT) in COPD patients are currently lacking. The effectiveness of once-daily single-inhaler fluticasone furoate (FF)/umeclidinium (UMEC)/vilanterol (VI) and MITT were compared in usual clinical care. METHODS: INTREPID was a multicentre, randomised, open-label, phase IV effectiveness study comparing FF/UMEC/VI 100/62.5/25 µg via the ELLIPTA inhaler with a clinician's choice of any approved non-ELLIPTA MITT in usual COPD clinical practice in five European countries. Primary end-point was proportion of COPD Assessment Test (CAT) responders (≥2-unit decrease in CAT score from baseline) at week 24. Secondary end-points in a subpopulation included change from baseline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) and percentage of patients making at least one critical error in inhalation technique at week 24. Safety was also assessed. RESULTS: 3092 patients were included (FF/UMEC/VI n=1545; MITT n=1547). The proportion of CAT responders at week 24 was significantly greater with FF/UMEC/VI versus non-ELLIPTA MITT (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.13–1.51; p<0.001) and mean change from baseline in FEV(1) was significantly greater with FF/UMEC/VI (77 mL versus 28 mL; treatment difference 50 mL, 95% CI 26–73 mL; p<0.001). The percentage of patients with at least one critical error in inhalation technique was low in both groups (FF/UMEC/VI 6%; non-ELLIPTA MITT 3%). Safety profiles, including incidence of pneumonia serious adverse events, were similar between treatments. CONCLUSIONS: In a usual clinical care setting, treatment with once-daily single-inhaler FF/UMEC/VI resulted in significantly more patients gaining health status improvement and greater lung function improvement versus non-ELLIPTA MITT

The development and validation of measures to assess cooking skills and food skills

BACKGROUND: With the increase use of convenience food and eating outside the home environment being linked to the obesity epidemic, the need to assess and monitor individuals cooking and food skills is key to help intervene where necessary to promote the usage of these skills. Therefore, this research aimed to develop and validate a measure for cooking skills and one for food skills, that are clearly described, relatable, user-friendly, suitable for different types of studies, and applicable across all sociodemographic levels. METHODS: Two measures were developed in light of the literature and expert opinion and piloted for clarity and ease of use. Following this, four studies were undertaken across different cohorts (including a sample of students, both 'Food preparation novices' and 'Experienced food preparers', and a nationally representative sample) to assess temporal stability, psychometrics, internal consistency reliability and construct validity of both measures. Analysis included T-tests, Pearson's correlations, factor analysis, and Cronbach's alphas, with a significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: Both measures were found to have a significant level of temporal stability (P < 0.001). Factor analysis revealed three factors with eigenvalues over 1, with two items in a third factor outside the two suggested measures. The internal consistency reliability for the cooking skills confidence measure ranged from 0.78 to 0.93 across all cohorts. The food skills confidence measure's Cronbach's alpha's ranged from 0.85 to 0.94. The two measures also showed a high discriminate validity as there were significant differences (P < 0.05 for cooking skills confidence and P < 0.01 for food skills confidence) between Food preparation novices' and 'Experienced food preparers.' CONCLUSIONS: The cooking skills confidence measure and the food skills confidence measure have been shown to have a very satisfactory reliability, validity and are consistent over time. Their user-friendly applicability make both measures highly suitable for large scale cross-sectional, longitudinal and intervention studies to assess or monitor cooking and food skills levels and confidence

The CoLaus study: a population-based study to investigate the epidemiology and genetic determinants of cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cardiovascular diseases and their associated risk factors remain the main cause of mortality in western societies. In order to assess the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) in the Caucasian population of Lausanne, Switzerland, we conducted a population-based study (Colaus Study). A secondary aim of the CoLaus study will be to determine new genetic determinants associated with CVRFs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Single-center, cross-sectional study including a random sample of 6,188 extensively phenotyped Caucasian subjects (3,251 women and 2,937 men) aged 35 to 75 years living in Lausanne, and genotyped using the 500 K Affymetrix chip technology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m²), smoking, hypertension (blood pressure ≥ 140/90 mmHg and/or treatment), dyslipidemia (high LDL-cholesterol and/or low HDL-cholesterol and/or high triglyceride levels) and diabetes (fasting plasma glucose ≥ 7 mmol/l and/or treatment) were present in 947 (15.7%), 1673 (27.0%), 2268 (36.7%), 2113 (34.2%) and 407 (6.6%) of the participants, respectively, and the prevalence was higher in men than in women. In both genders, the prevalence of obesity, hypertension and diabetes increased with age.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The prevalence of major CVRFs is high in the Lausanne population in particular in men. We anticipate that given its size, the depth of the phenotypic analysis and the availability of dense genome-wide genetic data, the CoLaus Study will be a unique resource to investigate not only the epidemiology of isolated, or aggregated CVRFs like the metabolic syndrome, but can also serve as a discovery set, as well as replication set, to identify novel genes associated with these conditions.</p

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p&lt;0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p&lt;0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p&lt;0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP &gt;5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

Three burnt books: an unconventional conservation narrative

On 23 May 2014, the Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Library was destroyed by a fire. Following the archaeological excavation of the library, salvaged objects and materials were condition-assessed according to a retention/disposal ‘decision tree’ framework designed by the GSA Library & Learning Resources. This practice-led research centres on the conservation journey of three burnt books excavated from the fire debris. Damaged books are vulnerable to disposal when they exhaust their textual and informational function. Consequently, books that could contribute to an understanding of significant events as historical objects are potentially lost. The research posits an approach to book conservation that does not privilege the textual context of the book above its post-textual materiality. Aura, as defined by Walter Benjamin, describes the perception of an object’s temporal presence; therefore, the aura of a burnt book is entangled in its post-fire materiality. Object biography, as conceived by social anthropologist Igor Kopytoff, is an epistemological framework that narrativises the life or part of the life of an object. Therefore, the main research question of this thesis asks: in what way can object biographies of damaged books preserve the aura of the 2014 Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh fire? The first subquestion asks: what can an analysis of fire-damaged books reveal about the role of subjectivity in conservation practices? The second subquestion asks: can object biography, used as a pre-conservation assessment, reorient book conservation strategies? Serendipity played a role in the research methodology since being in the rightplace at the right time, roles of individuals within the GSA and relationships developed between these individuals and myself, and the capacity for making insightful connections intervened in the conservation trajectory of the research objects. Ten professionals working for the GSA Library & Learning Resources, the Mackintosh Restoration Project team, Kirkdale Archaeology, AOC Archaeology, Harwell Documentation Restoration Service and Scottish Fire & Rescue Service involved in the salvage operation of the Mackintosh Library were interviewed. Extracts from the interview transcripts are incorporated into the practice component of the portfolio submission. Object biography involves (a) object analysis and (b) the narrativisation of perceptions of the research object, including material description and associative imagery and ideas. The three object biographies that comprise the creative non-fiction portfolio submission integrate several writing forms and devices including polyphony, ekphrasis, autofiction and autoethnography. The research makes a contribution to book conservation studies by proposing object biography as an epistemological framework that reorients the assessment of the significance of damaged books. The GSA Library & Learning Resources has since reoriented its original book conservation aim which now endeavours to preserve the material trace of the 2014 fire rather than exerting a restorative approach. Furthermore, the research continues the Mackintosh Library’s legacy as a site of research and creative enquiry even in its post-fire capacity, contributing to a body of practice that tells the story of GSA’s 2014 and 2018 Mackintosh fires

Strengthening global health security by improving disease surveillance in remote rural areas of low-income and middle-income countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need to strengthen national surveillance systems to protect a globally connected world. In low-income and middle-income countries, zoonotic disease surveillance has advanced considerably in the past two decades. However, surveillance efforts often prioritise urban and adjacent rural communities. Communities in remote rural areas have had far less support despite having routine exposure to zoonotic diseases due to frequent contact with domestic and wild animals, and restricted access to health care. Limited disease surveillance in remote rural areas is a crucial gap in global health security. Although this point has been made in the past, practical solutions on how to implement surveillance efficiently in these resource-limited and logistically challenging settings have yet to be discussed. We highlight why investing in disease surveillance in remote rural areas of low-income and middle-income countries will benefit the global community and review current approaches. Using semi-arid regions in Kenya as a case study, we provide a practical approach by which surveillance in remote rural areas can be strengthened and integrated into existing systems. This Viewpoint represents a transition from simply highlighting the need for a more holistic approach to disease surveillance to a solid plan for how this outcome might be achieved

Butorphanol Suppression of Histamine Itch Is Mediated by Nucleus Accumbens and Septal Nuclei: A Pharmacological fMRI Study

Opioid receptors in the central nervous system are important modulators of itch transmission. In this study, we examined the effect of mixed-action opioid butorphanol on histamine itch, cowhage itch and heat pain in healthy volunteers. Using functional MRI, we investigated significant changes in cerebral perfusion to identify the critical brain centers mediating the antipruritic effect of butorphanol. Butorphanol suppressed the itch induced experimentally with histamine, reduced the intensity of cowhage itch by approximately 35%, and did not affect heat pain sensitivity. In comparison with the placebo, butorphanol produced a bilateral deactivation of claustrum, insula and putamen, areas activated during itch processing. Analysis of cerebral perfusion patterns of brain processing of itch vs. itch inhibition under the effect of the drug, revealed that the reduction of cowhage itch by butorphanol was correlated with changes in cerebral perfusion in the midbrain, thalamus, S1, insula and cerebellum. The suppression of histamine itch by butorphanol was paralleled by the activation of nucleus accumbens and septal nuclei, structures expressing high levels of kappa opioid receptors. In conclusion, important relays of the mesolimbic circuit were involved in the inhibition of itch by butorphanol and could represent potential targets for the development of antipruritic therapy