7,573 research outputs found
Statistics in Focus: Population and social conditions. EU trends in statistics on police-recorded crime and the criminal justice system, 2008 - 2013. 2015.3
Get PDFGrowing pains : the impact of leaving education during a recession on earnings and employment. May 2019
Get PDFCan a new generation of political leaders tackle Britain’s regional inequalities?
Get PDFA guest post by Stephen Clarke of the Resolution Foundation 2017 will see the UK begin its departure from the European Union. However, as the UK seeks to shed some politicians in Brussels, we will be getting some new ones at home. Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Tees, West Midlands, Bristol and Bath, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will all go to the polls to elect mayors and will gain new powers over transport, housing, business support and skills
Liver steatosis and insulin-resistance : reversal by Sutherlandia frutescens
Get PDFType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is rapidly emerging as one of the greatest global health issues of the 21st century. Insulin-resistance is a condition associated with T2DM and in the cell it is defined as the inadequate strength of insulin signalling from the insulin receptor downstream to the final substrates of insulin action involved in multiple metabolic, gene expression, and mitogenic aspects of cellular function. To investigate the potential mechanisms involved in the development of insulin-resistance, two in vitro liver cell models were established using palmitate or a combination of insulin and fructose as inducers. The development of insulin-resistance was determined via the capacity of the hepatocytes to maintain normal glucose metabolism functionality by measuring hepatic gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis. It was established that the treatments induced the development of insulinresistance after 24 hours chronic exposure. Previous studies have investigated the potential of Sutherlandia frutescens extracts as therapeutic agents for insulin-resistance. The aim of this study was thus to investigate the ability of a hot aqueous extract of S. frutescens to reverse the insulin-resistant state, via measuring gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis, the associated changes in cellular physiology (lipid accumulation, oxidative stress, and acetyl- CoA levels), and changes in mRNA expression. The results showed that S. frutescens had a significant effect on reversing the insulin-resistant state in both models of insulin-resistance. Furthermore, S. frutescens was capable of reducing lipid accumulation in the form of triacylglycerol in the high insulin/fructose model, while this was unaffected in the palmitate model. However, S. frutescens did reduce the accumulation of diacylglycerol in the palmitate model. Oxidative stress, seen to be associated with the insulin-resistant state, was successfully treated using the extract, as indicated by a reduction in reactive oxygen species. However no change was seen in the nitric oxide levels, in either model. Interestingly, although S. frutescens had no effect on the level of acetyl-CoA in the insulin/fructose model, it was found to increase this in the palmitate model. It is suggested that this may be due to increased β-oxidation and metabolic activity induced by the extract. The analysis of mRNA expression gave some insight into possible mechanisms by which insulin-resistance develops, although the results were inconclusive due to high variability in samples and the possibility of the RNA being compromised. Future studies will address this issue. The results of this study reflect different proposed clinical causes of insulin-resistance through the responses seen in the two cell models. These indicate that liver steatosis and insulin-resistance are induced by high palmitate as well as high insulin and fructose levels, and reversed by S. frutescens. Therefore the potential of S. frutescens to be used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of insulin-resistance is indicated by this study
The Panopticon of the Public Protest: Technology and Surveillance
Get PDFThis paper deals with the issue of surveillance as it applies to recent technological advancements. Specifically, advancements in video capturing and social media have made public events into spectacles that are observed and shared online by the public. Public protest and discourse loosens itself from the bounds of state authority and enters the arena of the public. This phenomenon reconsiders Foucault’s conception of the panopticon. Foucault’s panopticon is useful as a tool for understanding the way power operates through surveillance in a state-to-public direction, but technological advancements have allowed for a reversal of this surveillance. With real examples like the pepper spraying of student protesters at UC Davis, the public now has surveillance over the state (in this example police officers) from its multitude of citizen perspectives that can be shared and disseminated online. This is an important development because it increases the autonomy and safe power of individuals who wish to speak out against excessive use of power by the state over the public. People can do so without fear of greater police suppression of real events. Issues with this development are discussed, like the chance for the state, or other sites of power (like corporations) to develop the copyrighting of public pace, making any event the property of power structures. This would be a problem, as it would lessen the autonomy of individuals in public spaces
Circumventing embryonic lethality with Lcmt1 deficiency: generation of hypomorphic Lcmt1 mice with reduced protein phosphatase 2A methyltransferase expression and defects in insulin signaling.
Get PDFProtein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), the major serine/threonine phosphatase in eukaryotic cells, is a heterotrimeric protein composed of structural, catalytic, and targeting subunits. PP2A assembly is governed by a variety of mechanisms, one of which is carboxyl-terminal methylation of the catalytic subunit by the leucine carboxyl methyltransferase LCMT1. PP2A is nearly stoichiometrically methylated in the cytosol, and although some PP2A targeting subunits bind independently of methylation, this modification is required for the binding of others. To examine the role of this methylation reaction in mammalian tissues, we generated a mouse harboring a gene-trap cassette within intron 1 of Lcmt1. Due to splicing around the insertion, Lcmt1 transcript and LCMT1 protein levels were reduced but not eliminated. LCMT1 activity and methylation of PP2A were reduced in a coordinate fashion, suggesting that LCMT1 is the only PP2A methyltransferase. These mice exhibited an insulin-resistance phenotype, indicating a role for this methyltransferase in signaling in insulin-sensitive tissues. Tissues from these animals will be vital for the in vivo identification of methylation-sensitive substrates of PP2A and how they respond to differing physiological conditions
Stephen Clarke: End of the Season
Get PDFA solo exhibition of an ongoing project that focused on family holidays at Rhyl, the seaside resort in North Wales. The exhibition at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester (25 July – 18 October 2015) comprised black & white digital photographic prints, vintage silver gelatin prints, and colour digital photomontages; a wall-mounted hand-drawn map and a DVD transfer of cine film footage; four themed vitrines that displayed photobooks, postcards and print ephemera from Clarke’s personal archive. The exhibition hinged on the artist’s photobooks of Rhyl published by the independent publisher Café Royal Books: Ocean Beach, Rhyl (2014); Rhyl Seafront (2015); and Rhyl Caravan Parks (2015). Accompanying the exhibition were two public lectures given by Stephen Clarke ‘Picturing the British Holiday’ (17 Aug. 2015) and ‘Holiday-ed in North Wales’ (17 Sept. 2015); and a public drawing performance titled ‘Drawing the End of the Season’ (25 and 26 July, 2015)
Being here: Impressions in Harmony (exhibition title at Gallery Mcube)
Get PDFA 300-word text that was used as an introduction to the work of the British artist Richard Crooks for the exhibition 'Being here: Impressions in Harmony' (25th - 30th November 2024) at Gallery Mcube in Kathmandu, Nepal. The text was on display in the exhibition as a wall panel. The text is also on the gallery's website in the section Air Mcube International Artists' Residency 2024.This exhibition text is part of a long-standing relationship between the artist Richard Crooks and writer Stephen Clarke. Clarke has written about Crooks' work in magazines (online and print) as well as texts for exhibition catalogues and introduction panels. A significant feature of Crooks' practice as an artist is the experience of undertaking an artist residency. During the residency, Crooks explores the landscape and the culture of the host residency. This direct experience informs the artwork Crooks produces for exhibition. In this introduction text, Clarke links Crooks’ practice to the physical act of exploration by drawing comparison to the British mountaineers George Herbert Leigh-Mallory and Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine.unfunde
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