Narratives of success among Irish and African Caribbean migrants

This paper compares the narratives of two men in midlife who migrated to the UK from Ireland and from the Caribbean as children, in the middle of the last century. We examine how success is narrated over the life course to show how migrants’ positioning of themselves differs from the ways in which they are positioned by outsiders, including in policy and public discourse. We conclude that while outsider narratives often polarise success and failure, insider understandings of success are dynamic and culturally and historically situated.     

qSOFA评分、血乳酸及红细胞分布宽度与急性上消化道出血病情严重程度的关系及其预测患者预后的效能分析

摘要 目的：探讨快速序贯器官功能衰竭评估（qSOFA）评分、血乳酸（Lac）及红细胞分布宽度（RDW）与急性上消化道出血（AUGIB）病情严重程度的关系及其预测患者预后的效能。方法：选取2017年6月～2022年6月我院收治的230例AUGIB患者为研究对象,根据病情严重程度分为低危组44例、中危组140例、高危组36例、极高危组10例,且根据其入院28 d内生存情况分为死亡组（n=31）和存活组（n=199）。收集AUGIB患者临床资料,检测血Lac、RDW水平并计算qSOFA评分。采用多因素Logistic回归分析AUGIB患者预后不良的影响因素,受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线分析qSOFA评分和血Lac、RDW对AUGIB患者预后不良的预测价值。结果：低危组、中危组、高危组、极高危组qSOFA评分和血Lac、RDW水平依次升高（P＜0.05）。230例AUGIB患者入院28 d内死亡率为13.48％（31/230）。多因素Logistic回归分析显示,年龄增加、GBS评分≥6分及休克指数、qSOFA评分、血尿素氮、血Lac、RDW水平升高为AUGIB患者预后不良的独立危险因素（P＜0.05）。ROC曲线分析显示,qSOFA评分、血Lac及RDW联合预测AUGIB患者预后不良的曲线下面积大于qSOFA评分、血Lac及RDW单独预测。结论：AUGIB患者qSOFA评分、血Lac及RDW水平升高与病情加重和预后不良密切相关,qSOFA评分、血Lac及RDW联合预测AUGIB患者预后不良的效能较高。     

Lithium Enhances Accumulation of [3H]Inositol Radioactivity and Mass of Second Messenger Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate in Monkey Cerebral Cortex Slices

We previously reported that lithium, in the presence of acetylcholine, increased accumulations of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate in brain cortex slices from the guinea pig, rabbit, rat, and mouse. In the mouse and rat, the Li(+)-induced increases required supplementation of the medium with inositol. This probably relates to the following facts: (a) Brain cortices of the mouse and rat contain in vivo concentrations of inositol half of that of the guinea pig. (b) Incubated rat brain cortex slices are depleted of inositol by 80%. (c) The slices require 10 mM inositol supplementation to restore in vivo concentrations. We now show that in monkey brain cortex slices, therapeutic concentrations of Li+ increase accumulation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. The inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate level is not increased. Neither inositol nor an agonist is required. The same effects are seen whether inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate is quantified by the [3H]inositol prelabeling technique or by mass assay, although mass includes a pool of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate that is metabolically inactive. Thus, in a therapeutically relevant model for humans, Li+ increases inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate levels in brain cortex slices, as was previously seen in lower mammals at non-rate-limiting concentrations of inositol.     

Extremity cooling for heat stress mitigation in military and occupational settings

Physical work, high ambient temperature and wearing protective clothing can elevate body temperature and cardiovascular strain sufficiently to degrade performance and induce heat-related illnesses. We have recently developed an Arm Immersion Cooling System (AICS) for use in military training environments and this paper will review literature supporting such an approach and provide details regarding its construction. Extremity cooling in cool or cold water can accelerate body (core temperature) cooling from 0.2 to 1.0 °C/10 min vs. control conditions, depending on the size/surface area of the extremity immersed. Arm immersion up to the elbow results in greater heat loss than hand- or foot-only immersion and may reduce cardiovascular strain by lowering heart rate by 10–25 beats/min and increase work tolerance time by up to 60%. The findings from studies in this paper support the use of AICS prototypes, which have been incorporated as part of the heat stress mitigation procedures employed in US Army Ranger Training and may have great application for sports and occupational use.     

How to Create and Use Analogies Effectively in the Teaching of Science Concepts

Effective teaching is the art of getting information to the students' memory in an organized manner to facilitate later retrieval. Thanks to advances in cognitive science, one can talk of the science of teaching. A metaphor that captures the work of effective teachers is "teachers as knowledge engineers," which connotes that effective teachers understand the nature of knowledge and, by extrapolation, the nature of teaching and learning. When teachers take charge of knowledge, view it as a process, and understand how to work with it, they take charge of the knowledge-construction process and better help their students. This article discusses how science teachers use analogies as a means of organizing knowledge in their students' memory.     

Hate groups targeting unauthorized immigrants in the US: discourses,narratives and subjectivation practices on their websites

The narratives and images on websites of US hate groups that oppose undocumented immigrants represent and reproduce discourses that contribute to the subject formation of group members, who feel ethically obliged to counter unauthorized immigration. Left alone by the government, which is seen as unreliable and uncaring of patriotic values, they position themselves as heroic saviours of the nation. We argue that these hate groups’ ‘games of truth’ develop in response to the perception that irregular immigration threatens specific social orders and values, for instance about citizenship, national identity and otherness. This article helps to understand the ways in which anti-immigrant narratives serve the functions of countering these threats and of asserting the group members’ ethical obligation as a form of care of the self. In other words, from a Foucaultian viewpoint, we interpret the problematizations of ‘illegal’ immigration as discursive practices for the subject formation of hate group members.     

Genes,symptoms, and the “asymptomatic ill”: toward a broader understanding of genetic discrimination

Since the early 1990s, the term “genetic discrimination” has been used to designate adverse treatment on the grounds of genetic makeup. However, the full spectrum of possible disadvantage associated with genetic information has not been addressed by either the international scientific debate or statutory arrangements on genetic discrimination. Informed by legal contexts, they almost all focus on one specific group: the “asymptomatic ill.” On the basis of the sociological study, “Genetic Discrimination in Germany,” this article proposes to revise the terms of the debate and discusses some limitations of the concept. Drawing on the experiences reported by affected individuals, it advocates a more expansive social understanding which does not require that a person has to be healthy to be at risk of genetic discrimination.     

Mental illness and well‐being: an affect regulation perspective

Mental health crucially depends upon affective states such as emotions, stress responses, impulses and moods. These states shape how we think, feel and behave. Often, they support adaptive functioning. At other times, however, they can become detrimental to mental health via maladaptive affect generation processes and/or maladaptive affect regulation processes. Here, we present an integrative framework for considering the role of affect generation and regulation in mental illness and well‐being. Our model views affect generation as an iterative cycle of attending to, appraising and responding to situations. It views affect regulation as an iterative series of decisions aimed at altering affect generation. Affect regulation decisions include identifying what, if anything, should be changed about affect, selecting where to intervene in the affect generation cycle, choosing how to implement this intervention, and monitoring the regulation attempt to decide whether to maintain, switch or stop it. Difficulties with these decisions, often arising from biased inputs to them, can contribute to manifestations of mental illness such as clinical symptoms, syndromes and disorders. The model has a number of implications for clinical assessment and treatment. Specifically, it offers a common set of concepts for characterizing different affective states; it highlights interactions between affect generation and affect regulation; it identifies assessment and treatment targets among the component processes of affect regulation; and it is applicable to prevention and treatment of mental illness as well as to promotion and restoration of psychological well‐being.     

Development and Validation of Dose-Response Relationship for Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen internationally and in the U.S. The objective of this work was to develop and validate a dose-response model for infection by this organism. Only animal data was available in the literature. The beta-Poisson dose response model provided good fit to the data, and one of the two data sets was found to be concordant with attack rates noted in human outbreaks. There are differences, however, between the dose-response relationship and endemic illness rates computed from market basket surveys of the prevalence of L. monocytogenes. Further work to elucidate the bases for this difference is necessary.