Reinventing diabetes: Classification,division and the geneticization of disease

This paper shows how diabetes underwent geneticization to become the exemplar of a complex genetic disorder. My analysis focuses on the debates that took place in the mid-to-late-1970s over the classification of, and the role of genetic factors in, diabetes. By exploring the work of an influential researcher and clinician, Andrew Cudworth, I show how the discourse around diabetes constructed it as a genetic condition divided into different types on the grounds of aetiology. I then track this classification over time as it became the current, extremely splintered classification system.     

Resettled and unsettled: Syrian refugees and the intersection of race and legal status in the United States

ABSTRACT

In this article, I examine how the intersection of legal status and racialization shapes immigrant’s sense of security; or of legal and interpersonal safety. I draw on an ethnography of Syrian refugees who hold a permanent legal status, and who entered the United States in 2015, as Donald Trump was launching his campaign, amplifying anti-Muslim and anti-refugee sentiment. Following refugee experiences from their arrival, through the issuance of the first executive order banning travel in January 2017, I show how this group, racialized as Muslim and Arab, was categorized as a threat to national security. I also capture the uneven way they came to recognize their racialization. While a permanent legal status is likely a necessary condition for feeling a sense of security in the United States, I argue that it is an insufficient one. I show that Syrian refugees’ racialization attenuated their sense of security despite their legal status.     

Collaborations of Biocultural Hope: Community Science Against Industrialisation in Northwest Australia

ABSTRACT

The article discusses two community science projects organised in opposition to large-scale industrialisation in the Kimberley region of Northwestern Australia. Between 2006 and 2013, a significant conflict took place on the region’s Indian Ocean coast. It was triggered by the proposal of Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company Woodside Ltd. to build a $45 billion AUD liquefied natural gas facility at James Price Point, 50?km north of the tourist town of Broome. The community science initiatives highlight particular ways in which the local community was able not only to enter into the debate, but to significantly influence its outcome. This points towards alternate configurations of the political subjectivities involved in this conflict. Drawing on the Aboriginal notion of ‘living country’, the article presents these projects as signs of biocultural hope, that hint towards a world different from the one built on neoliberal ideals and dreams of economic opportunity alone.     

Role of the microbiota in circadian rhythms of the host

ABSTRACT

Life for meta-organisms is based on a strong relationship between gut bacteria and body cells. This review summarizes to what extent the microbiota can influence host circadian rhythms via a literature review on the topic. The results show that microbiota can influence the host’s circadian gene expression through direct interactions via immunoreceptors and microbiota-derived metabolites, especially in peripheral tissues. Noteworthy metabolites that are only attributable to the microbiota are short-chain fatty acids and unconjugated bile acids. The microbiota also serves as a mediator for the interplay between the host’s diet and circadian rhythmicity. This work furthermore displays that the microbiota is subject to diurnal variations in terms of structure and function and that the host and the host’s diet influence these fluctuations. As most of these results originate in mouse models, we hope this work stimulates further research in human derived tissue to verify these conclusions.     

Introduction: Double Signs and Intrasocietal Heterogeneity in Primitivist Tourism Encounters

ABSTRACT

A growing body of ethnographic work examines tourism in which visited people are figured as embodying an archaic human condition outside modernity. I suggest that this work's core subject is the structure of articulations between people who understand their close involvement very differently. I then highlight two more specific themes that cut across this issue's case studies from Kenya, Indonesia, China, and Papua New Guinea. One is that ethnographers trace participants' disparate understandings of specific interactional media, since these contact points and their plural make-up are the actual substance of articulation between different sides to the encounters. The other theme I highlight is that heterogeneity within tourists' and visited people's home ideological formations is critical to their tourism involvement, such that endosocial and exosocial processes are mutually constitutive. I lastly outline how the category ‘primitivism’ is a useful resource for situating this tourism in wider and deeper historical contexts.     

Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Risk of Burnout in Child Care Workers — A Cross-Sectional Study

ObjectivesGerman child care workers'' job satisfaction is influenced by the consequences of unfavourable underlying conditions. Child care workers tend to suffer from psychosocial stress, as they feel that their work is undervalued. The objective of the present study is to investigate how the psychosocial factors of the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model influence musculoskeletal symptoms (MS) and the risk of burnout. To our knowledge this is the first study investigating the association between the factors of the ERI model and MS in child care workers.ConclusionOvercommitment in child care workers is related to MS and risk of burnout. There is also evidence that low control is associated with MS and subjective noise exposure with risk of burnout. Effort-reward imbalance is not related to either outcome. This occupational health risk assessment identifies changeable working factors in different types of facilities.     

Picturing women,class, and community in Arab Detroit: The strange case of Eva Habib

This essay explores the on‐going struggle to reveal and conceal the image of Eva Habib, an Arab American woman who worked in a Detroit factory and was photographed in her coveralls circa 1925. Eva's image has been a source of controversy in Detroit's Arab community since it first became public in the 1980s. I chart the evolution of this controversy, examine the interests of the parties involved, and draw conclusions about how this controversial image simultaneously undermines and reinforces popular notions of women, work, and class among Arab Americans.     

Weight-Bearing and Mobilization in the Postoperative Care of Ankle Fractures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials and Cohort Studies

PurposeTo determine the effectiveness and safety of interventions used for rehabilitation after open reduction and internal fixation of ankle fractures.MethodsA systematic review and meta-analysis was performed using both randomized trials and cohort studies. The effect of mobilization, weight-bearing, and unprotected weight-bearing as tolerated on postoperative recovery was compared using the Olerud Molander score, return to work/daily activities, and the rate of complications.ResultsA total of 25 articles were included. Ankle exercises resulted in earlier return to work and/or daily activities compared to immobilization (mean difference (MD) -20.76 days; 95% confidence interval (CI) -40.02 to -1.50). There was no difference in the rate of complications between exercises and immobilization (risk ratio (RR) 1.22; 95% CI 0.60 to 2.45) or between early and late weight-bearing (RR 1.26; 95%CI 0.56 to 2.85).InterpretationResults of this meta-analysis show that following ankle surgery, 1) active exercises accelerate return to work and daily activities compared to immobilization, 2) early weight-bearing tends to accelerate return to work and daily activities compared to late weight-bearing. Active exercises in combination with immediate weight-bearing may be a safe option.     

On doing ‘being ordinary’: women's accounts of BRCA testing and maternal responsibility

Abstract

In recent months, genetic testing for the breast and ovarian cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, has again hit the headlines in the UK press. Four women, all from families with a strong breast cancer pedigree, have asked the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority for permission to screen their embryos for BRCA1/2 mutations. Although this may be a dramatic example of parental responsibility, other studies have shown that women at risk of BRCA-related cancers frequently cite responsibility to others as an important influence on their testing and treatment decision making. In this paper, I explore the decision-making explanations that women at risk of BRCA-related breast and ovarian cancer provide when accounting for their decision to undergo genetic testing. In doing so, I treat women's accounts critically, and examine how and why the women verbalize their explanations in the manner that they do.     

The Rationale for Prandial Glycemic Control in Diabetes Mellitus

Background:Diabetes mellitus (DM) is of epidemic proportions worldwide, and its microvascular and macrovascular complications have been well described. Achieving glycemic control has been demonstrated to reduce patients' risk of developing these complications.Objective:The objective of this article was to examine how prandial hyperglycemia-especially postprandial hyperglycemia (PPHG)-affects overall glycemic control and the complications of DM and to discuss the pharmacologic agents available to reduce PPHG.Methods:Materials used for this article were identified through a MEDLINE search of the literature (1975–2006). English-language randomized, controlled, prospective, cohort, and observational studies were chosen using the search terms postprandial hyperglycemia, oxidative stress, cardiovascular disease, macrovascular disease, microvascular disease, lipidemia, and coagulation.Results:Data show that controlling prandial hyperglycemia reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) andmicrovascular complications, lowers glycosylated hemoglobin levels, causes less oxidative stress, and leads to a more favorable coagulation and postprandial lipidemia profile. Guidelines for targeting PPHG are becoming standard, and various pharmacologic agents (eg, a-glucosidase inhibitors, amylin analogues, incretin mimetics, rapid-acting insulins and insulin analogues, meglitinide analogues) that target PPHG may also improve overall glycemic control and reduce CVD risk.Conclusions:Although the level of hyperglycemia that leads to microvascular and macrovascular complications inpatients with DM remains to be elucidated, it appears prudent to address prandial hyperglycemia, especially PPHG, rather than focus solely on fasting glucose levels. Clinicians should consider incorporating agents that lower PPHG in their treatment of patients with DM.     

Differences in stability and calcium sensitivity of the Ig domains in titin's N2A region

Titin is a large filamentous protein that spans half a sarcomere, from Z‐disk to M‐line. The N2A region within the titin molecule exists between the proximal immunoglobulin (Ig) region and the PEVK region and protein–protein interactions involving this region are required for normal muscle function. The N2A region consists of four Ig domains (I80–I83) with a 105 amino acid linker region between I80 and I81 that has a helical nature. Using chemical stability measurements, we show that predicted differences between the adjacent Ig domains (I81–I83) correlate with experimentally determined differences in chemical stability and refolding kinetics. Our work further shows that I83 has the lowest ΔG_unfolding, which is increased in the presence of calcium (pCa 4.3), indicating that Ca²⁺ plays a role in stabilizing this immunoglobulin domain. The characteristics of N2A's three Ig domains provide insight into the stability of the binding sites for proteins that interact with the N2A region. This work also provides insights into how Ca²⁺ might influence binding events involving N2A.     

高负载Cu单原子纳米酶的制备和类酶活性研究

目的 单原子纳米酶（single-atom nanozyme，SAN）因其高原子利用率及丰富的类酶活性被广泛研究。但是目前大多数SAN活性位点负载量较低，限制了其进一步应用和发展。本研究旨在制备一种高原子负载量的SAN，并对其类酶活性进行系统研究，希望为高负载SAN的制备提供思路，并为SAN在更广泛领域的应用提供理论支持。方法 本研究通过原位锚定策略将金属盐前驱体锚定在氨基化石墨烯量子点框架中，在惰性气体保护下进行高温热解稳定Cu原子和载体之间的化学键，制备出负载量高达7.66%（质量百分比）的高负载Cu单原子纳米酶（high-loading Cu SAN）。此外，以3,3",5,5"-四甲基联苯胺（TMB）和氮蓝四唑（NBT）为显色剂，评估了high-loading Cu SAN的类过氧化物酶（POD）、类氧化物酶（OXD）及类超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）活性，并与传统金属有机框架锚定法制备的低负载Cu单原子纳米酶（low-loading Cu SAN）作比较。以过氧化氢（H₂O₂）为催化底物，对比研究了高/低负载Cu SAN的类过氧化氢酶（CAT）活性。结果 研究表明，本文制备的高负载Cu SAN的类POD和SOD活性分别是低负载Cu SAN的3.4倍和8.88倍，且表现出类酶催化选择性。结论 本研究为高负载SAN的制备和活性研究提供了思路，为SAN在检测传感、疾病治疗以及环境保护等方面的应用奠定了基础。     

Comparative binding studies on the interaction of the indoloquinoline alkaloid cryptolepine with the B and the non-canonical protonated form of DNA: A spectroscopic insight

BackgroundLow pH induced nucleic acid polymorphism and the interaction of naturally occurring small molecules with different polymorphic forms of DNA have been the focus in developing new drugs. Recent studies have revealed that low pH plays an active role in growth and development of cancer cells. Our target is to find whether and how the indoloquinoline alkaloid cryptolepine (CRP) interact with different polymorphic forms of natural DNA, in hope to explore this group of alkaloids as new therapeutics.MethodsMultiple spectroscopic techniques that include UV–visible absorption spectrophotometry, fluorimetry, CD spectroscopy along with thermal melting studies were employed to characterize the interaction between the alkaloid cryptolepine with the B and protonated forms of DNA.Results & conclusionsCryptolepine has been found to interact with either forms of DNA. The nature of binding is non-cooperative in both cases. Data show that the affinity of CRP to B form of DNA is relatively higher than that for the protonated form of DNA. Circular dichroic studies reveal that the alkaloid converts the left handed protonated DNA into bound right handed form. Fluorescence quenching experiments reveal that cryptolepine intercalates within the DNA base pairs. Thermal melting studies show that the alkaloid stabilises the DNA structures.General significanceSuch non-B DNA structures are often present at the ‘mutation hotspots’ that are associated with genetic instability related diseases such as cancer. The ability of cryptolepine to interact to such non-B DNA structures makes it a useful substrate in the designing of potential chemotherapeutic agents.     

The relationship among primary anatomic subsite and risk and distribution of second malignant neoplasms in patients with stage I/II diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: An analysis of the surveillance,epidemiology, and end results database

BackgroundRecent studies have reported that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) involving different primary extranodal sites have distinct clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. However, the risk of secondary malignant neoplasms (SMNs) in DLBCL survivors with different primary extranodal sites are unknown.MethodsA total of 40,714 patients diagnosed with stage I/II DLBCL were included from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 1983 to 2015.The standardized incidence ratio (SIR) and absolute excess risk (AER) were used to assess the risk of SMNs.ResultsThe results show that the risk of SMN was significantly higher in extranodal DLBCL than in the US general population (SIR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.11–1.26), and the risk of developing SMN remains significantly elevated with increased latency. Moreover, there were multiple site-specific risk patterns. There was a 22%, 44%, 66%, 123% and 151% increased risk of SMN 10 years after primary gastrointestinal tract, head/neck, skeletal, lung and liver/pancreas DLBCL diagnosis, respectively. There was a significant decrease risk of SMN with increasing age at diagnosis for primary gastrointestinal tract and skeletal DLBCL. In addition, DLBCL patients with primary sites in the gastrointestinal tract, thyroid and liver/pancreas had the highest incidences of secondary stomach cancer, second thyroid cancer, and second hepatobiliary cancer, respectively, which indicated that the initial site of DLBCL may predict the type of SMN.ConclusionsThe strategies for cancer surveillance after extranodal DLBCL diagnosis may need to be individualized according to the subsite of extranodal DLBCL.     

Deadwood and paternalism: rationalizing casual labour in an Indian company town

This article is based upon ethnographic research in the Indian company town of Jamshedpur, in the Tata Motors and Telcon companies. I relate the local shift towards casual labour since the 1990s to managerial discourses that rationalize this development. I argue that whilst flexible accumulation may represent a global transformation of employment regimes, the local implementation of this process relies upon a discursive continuity with the past. Referencing a historical language of cultural poverty, predominantly Bengali managers in Jamshedpur continue to claim paternal authority over their mainly Bihari employees, despite no longer fulfilling their traditional ‘parental’ roles vis‐à‐vis the provision of permanent employment. In the latter sections of the article, I discuss the managerial spectre of inefficient permanent workers; ‘deadwood’ whom it is perceived that casualization can prune from the workforce. I argue that whilst permanent employees may exhibit less commitment to the work process than their casual counterparts, their presence on the shop‐floor suggests continuity with the company town ideal and forestalls resistance among casual workers. Far from disembedding labour from social relations, neoliberal employment regimes in Jamshedpur exploit company town paternalism and cultural prejudices.     

Work stress and risk of cardiovascular mortality: prospective cohort study of industrial employees

ObjectiveTo examine the association between work stress, according to the job strain model and the effort-reward imbalance model, and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.DesignProspective cohort study. Baseline examination in 1973 determined cases of cardiovascular disease, behavioural and biological risks, and stressful characteristics of work. Biological risks were measured at 5 year and 10 year follow up.SettingStaff of a company in the metal industry in Finland.Participants812 employees (545 men, 267 women) who were free from cardiovascular diseases at baseline.ResultsMean length of follow up was 25.6 years. After adjustment for age and sex, employees with high job strain, a combination of high demands at work and low job control, had a 2.2-fold (95% confidence interval 1.2 to 4.2) cardiovascular mortality risk compared with their colleagues with low job strain. The corresponding risk ratio for employees with effort-reward imbalance (low salary, lack of social approval, and few career opportunities relative to efforts required at work) was 2.4 (1.3 to 4.4). These ratios remained significant after additional adjustment for occupational group and biological and behavioural risks at baseline. High job strain was associated with increased serum total cholesterol at the 5 year follow up. Effort-reward imbalance predicted increased body mass index at the 10 year follow up.ConclusionsHigh job strain and effort-reward imbalance seem to increase the risk of cardiovascular mortality. The evidence from industrial employees suggests that attention should be paid to the prevention of work stress.

What is already known on this topic

Job strain (high demands and low job control) and effort-reward imbalance (high demands, low security, few career opportunities) elicit stress at workTheir status as risk factors for cardiovascular mortality has, however, remained uncertain

What this study adds

Job strain and effort-reward imbalance were each associated with a doubling of the risk of cardiovascular death among employees who were free from overt cardiovascular diseases at baselineJob strain and effort-reward imbalance also predicted adverse changes in biological factors such as cholesterol concentration and body mass index     

Transgressing community: the case of Muslims in a twenty-first-century British city

Abstract

This paper draws on ethnographic research carried out in Birmingham, UK – a city significant for its sizeable Muslim population and its iconic role in the history of minority ethnic settlement in Britain – to consider how associations of place and ethnicity work in different ways to inform ideas about ‘Muslim community’ in twenty-first-century Britain. The paper charts happenings around a local event in an area of majority Asian settlement and how representations of the area as a place of Muslim community were used to implicate it in the ‘war on terror’. The paper goes on to show how this sensibility is disrupted by Muslims themselves through alternative engagements with space and ethnicity. The paper argues that these offer a ground for making Muslim community in ways that actively engage with histories and patterns of ethnic settlement in the city rather than being determined by them.     

Materialism and Sensuality: Visualizing the Devil in the Festival of Our Lady of Urkupiña

During the Festival of Our Lady of Urkupin ¨ a, held every August in Quillacollo, Bolivia, an estimated half million pilgrims petition Our Lady for wealth and material goods. The festival has become a national event and now includes the participation of government officials, including the President, as well as widespread coverage by the media. The festival has also become a point of controversy and contestation over the meanings of Bolivian nationalism, commercialism, and economic development. These issues, as I will show, have been articulated through criticisms of the festival as being too sensuous and overly commercialized. Through an examination of media coverage of the festival of Urkupiña, this article focuses on the ways that "evils" of materialism and sensuality are represented visually. The Bolivian state and the Catholic Church have sought to define the meaning of the festival in terms of devotion and national identity while criticizing some festival practices associated with gaining wealth. Here I show how the folkloric and devotional elements of the festival are embodied in the dancers while the visual referent for the materialism of the festival is street vendors. I also discuss how the festival transforms the meanings of the ch'alla and other Andeanpractices that anthropologists have traditionally associated with resistance to capitalism (as found for example in the work of June Nash and Michael Taussig). The article concludes by noting that, rather than mapping these meanings ontogeneralized resistance, anthropologists must be prepared fully to engage contestations over devotion, material gain, sensuousness, and economic development. In short, we should also be prepared to dance with the devil.     

Characterization of noise and digitizer response variability in radiochromic film dosimetry. Impact on treatment verification

PurposeTo study how noise and scanner response variability affect radiochromic film dosimetry.MethodsFive treatment plans were analyzed in this work with two different multichannel protocols: the multichannel algorithm of Mayer et al. and the efficient protocol of Lewis et al.Results and conclusionThe multichannel protocol of Mayer et al. is not able to compensate variability in scanner response, which is an important issue for radiochromic film dosimetry. The efficient protocol compensates variations of scanner response, so dose values and gamma scores become more accurate and reproducible. The compensation of digitizer scan variability of the efficient protocol, together with time averaging improve radiochromic film dosimetry. Noise is related to selected resolution in the scanner, our results show that if high resolution measurements are required, de-noising should be considered.