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Objective: Following recent work examining alcohol industry involvements in science, this is a case study that examines the ways in which the alcohol research community engages in "boundary work"--in which scientists define and defend the demarcation between their community of knowledge makers and others, justifying their claim to legitimacy and authority--in response to alcohol industry-sponsored interventions. The case here involves an economist who disputes the research consensus positions and policy recommendations of the field, having been funded by the key global alcohol industry political organization. Method: We examine the "functional" statements of both sides of this issue to show the ways in which the scientific and policy consensus of the field is disputed. Three examples of the responses of the alcohol research community, presenting different types of responses, are interrogated. Results: In late career and retirement, this economist published extensively in alcohol and health economics journals within the peer-reviewed literature on two key topics in alcohol policy: pricing/taxation measures and advertising restrictions. These commentaries, reviews, and correspondence propose alternative policies favored by the alcohol industry, which are at odds with the alcohol public health evidence base. The three examples examined of boundary work performed by alcohol public health researchers illustrate the variety of ways in which the legitimacy of these interventions has been questioned: on technical grounds, on explicitly normative grounds, and as a body of work as a whole. Conclusions: Interventions in the scientific literature create important resources for alcohol industry actors to oppose alcohol policy measures globally. The alcohol research field may benefit from discussion about how to respond to these kinds of interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The global burden of alcohol harm has increased and is forecast to grow further without effective policy implementation. Public–private partnerships aiming to address global health, and other societal challenges, are a burgeoning feature of neoliberal governance. Rhetorically distancing themselves from tobacco, the major alcohol companies are committed to tackling 'harmful drinking' and have created a distinct type of public relations organization for this purpose. The activities of such organizations are increasingly recognized as an impediment to the implementation of policies to reduce alcohol harm, including in low- and middle-income countries where markets are expanding. Methods: The approach of critical discourse analysis is used to examine the discursive tactics and strategies used in Working Together; a 'toolkit' published by the key global level alcohol industry public relations organization, the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD). This study considers how it works discursively to set the terms of, and overcome skepticism about partnerships, to define aims and position various actors by constructing their roles. The construction of prospective partners provides insights into the alcohol industry itself. Results: The toolkit operates as an ideological resource for forming public–private partnerships across the world based on the accumulated know-how of the major companies through IARD. This allows the largest alcohol companies to exercise leadership of the industry, while remaining off-stage. The toolkit relies on a form of rhetorical work which creates distance from obvious corporate interests and the harms caused to population health and society. This is accomplished by working against evidence-informed population level approaches, and thus avoiding policies that will make any significant difference to overall alcohol harm. Unspecific "complexity" affords opportunity for preferred types of "actions", and "partnership" provides opportunity to gain credibility by association, further minimizing the likelihood of any material harm being reduced. Conclusions: The toolkit is designed to not only legitimate the inclusion of alcohol industry actors as initiating 'partners', but also assigns them roles as managers of a set of carefully constructed relationships. This vision of public–private partnership reproduces the hegemonic narrative that has successfully blocked policy advances for decades and led to growing alcohol harm globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Public health and alcohol industry actors compete to frame alcohol policy problems and solutions. Little is known about how sudden shifts in the political context provide moments for policy actors to re-frame alcohol-related issues. South Africa’s temporary bans on alcohol sales during the COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportunity to study this phenomenon. Methods: We identified Professor Charles Parry from the South African Medical Research Council as a key policy actor. Parry uses a Twitter account primarily to comment on alcohol-related issues in South Africa. We harvested his tweets posted from March 18 to August 31, 2020, coinciding with the first two alcohol sales bans. We conducted a thematic analysis of the tweets to understand how Parry framed alcohol policy evidence and issues during these ‘extraordinary times.’ Results: Parry underlined the extent of alcohol-related harm during ‘normal times’ with scientific evidence and contested industry actors’ efforts to re-frame relevant evidence in a coherent and well-constructed argument. Parry used the temporary sales restrictions to highlight the magnitude of the health and social harms resulting from alcohol consumption, particularly trauma, rather than the COVID-19 transmission risks. Parry portrayed the sales ban as a policy learning opportunity (or ‘experiment’) for South Africa and beyond. Conclusions: Crisis conditions can provide new openings for public health (and industry) actors to make salient particular features of alcohol and alcohol policy evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the functions and purposes of the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) book series, published by Routledge between 1998 and 2010. The books were authored by invited academics, ICAP staffers, and alcohol industry representatives. The key data source for this paper was the framing material – forewords, introductions, conclusions – of the books. A thematic analysis positioned the contents with regard to ongoing alcohol research and public health policy issues. This was a project to 'shift the paradigm'. ICAP frames alcohol policy choices in ways which direct policy attention to sub-groups rather than the population level. Population-level approaches are caricatured as 'ideological'. The concept of 'balance' is prominent and is employed in multiple ways. Business interests are elided and industry involvement in policy making is promoted on scientific grounds. The intellectual programme is lent credibility by leading scientists and the imprimatur of an academic publisher. While this attempt to change the paradigm in alcohol science has failed, ineffective alcohol policies remain common, uninformed by scientific evidence on how harms at the societal level may be reduced. The ICAP book series continues to serve its function as a resource to support the status quo in respect of alcohol policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Associates for Research in Substances of Enjoyment (ARISE) was formed by tobacco companies in the late 1980s designed to counter public health policy development. This study examines the alcohol content of ARISE and the contribution of ARISE to alcohol industry activities in a key period in the globalisation of the alcohol industry, generating insights into the inter‐relationships between the tobacco and alcohol industries in their involvements in policy‐oriented science. Methods: We systematically searched the UCSF Truth Tobacco Documents Library for information about ARISE, alcohol and the alcohol industry. This material was supplemented with an analysis of the contributions by ARISE associates to one volume in the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) book series on alcohol and pleasure. Results: ARISE placed nicotine alongside caffeine, chocolate and other foods, and alcohol as treats which brought pleasure and other benefits. Alcohol was thus intrinsic to the ARISE project for the tobacco industry. This study shows that at a formative moment in the mid‐1990s the major alcohol companies took advantage of the intellectual inheritance and personnel provided by the tobacco industry when establishing ICAP. Key to this was an ICAP conference that resulted in Alcohol and pleasure: A health perspective (1999). Discussion and Conclusions: Not only did ARISE use alcohol to play a supporting role in a sophisticated tobacco industry strategy, the alcohol industry engaged with ARISE as part of its own strategy. This shows the importance of careful attention to corporate activities on the fringes of peer‐reviewed science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In 2015/2016 controversy followed the publication of a report on an anthropological study of Australian and New Zealand night‐time economies funded by a major alcohol producer. This paper explores the background, moments of public controversy and political uses of the report. Methods: Informed by the sociology of scientific controversies, we review the available relevant work of the author of the report, associated material such as press releases, newspaper articles (n = 18) and industry submissions to government (n = 12). Attention was paid to the ways in which claims were made about the relationship between alcohol and violence, and the ways in which credibility and legitimacy were constructed. Results: The author of the report has longstanding associations with alcohol industry organisations. Claims made regarding alcohol and violence have remained highly consistent over time, and appear oblivious to developments in the evidence. In the media, the story was largely framed as a contest of credibility between compromised parties. The report continues to be used in alcohol industry submissions to government. Discussion and Conclusions: This analysis suggests that this is a 'counterfeit scientific controversy'; in our assessment, the report has had value not as a contribution to the scientific literature, but as a resource in the claims‐making practices of the alcohol industry. Studies of the ways in which industry actors foster science‐related content conducted at significant social and conceptual distance from the core of the relevant research community will enhance understandings of the ways in which industry actors engage with science and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: One research group has recently published three articles on the ways in which alcohol companies and industry social aspects organizations (SAOs) communicate with the public. These articles show how the information produced by the alcohol industry works to produce doubt and uncertainty. Replies from SAOs were published in the respective scientific journals. This article examines these "moments of controversy," asking in what ways, on which grounds, do the SAOs contest the claims made about them?Method: Three moments of controversy were examined, prompted by articles on SAO information on cancer, on use of Twitter, and on pregnancy and fertility. The articles (n = 3), the responses from the SAOs (n = 8), and the replies by authors Petticrew and colleagues (n = 4), were analyzed, identifying the rhetorical repertoires at work.Results: The responses by SAOs use two main strategies: 1. Posing narrow questions of accuracy rather than engaging with the overall findings of the articles on the context and framing of information; and 2. Making normative claims about what it is to do good science, suggesting that the articles and their findings are not. The second strategy questions the very legitimacy of research examining SAOs. The credibility of being published in the scientific literature affords the responses themselves a rhetorical function, a resource for later use to signal doubt and uncertainty.Conclusions: The SAO interventions in the scientific literature generate controversies. Furthermore, the published traces they leave in the scientific literature enhance SAOs' ability to make credible claims that the original findings were controversial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: One research group has recently published three articles on the ways in which alcohol companies and industry social aspects organizations (SAOs) communicate with the public. These articles show how the information produced by the alcohol industry works to produce doubt and uncertainty. Replies from SAOs were published in the respective scientific journals. This article examines these "moments of controversy," asking in what ways, on which grounds, do the SAOs contest the claims made about them? Method: Three moments of controversy were examined, prompted by articles on SAO information on cancer, on use of Twitter, and on pregnancy and fertility. The articles (n = 3), the responses from the SAOs (n = 8), and the replies by authors Petticrew and colleagues (n = 4), were analyzed, identifying the rhetorical repertoires at work. Results: The responses by SAOs use two main strategies: 1. Posing narrow questions of accuracy rather than engaging with the overall findings of the articles on the context and framing of information; and 2. Making normative claims about what it is to do good science, suggesting that the articles and their findings are not. The second strategy questions the very legitimacy of research examining SAOs. The credibility of being published in the scientific literature affords the responses themselves a rhetorical function, a resource for later use to signal doubt and uncertainty. Conclusions: The SAO interventions in the scientific literature generate controversies. Furthermore, the published traces they leave in the scientific literature enhance SAOs' ability to make credible claims that the original findings were controversial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although fully implemented autonomous vehicles (AVs) seem to be on the cusp of reality, standard evaluation and testing procedures still are lacking. This study conducted a preliminary evaluation of the technical feasibility, safety, and reliability of using AV technology, in particular a low-speed, self-driving shuttle known as Olli. The study designed a set of 12 testing scenarios and performed experiments to evaluate the operational capabilities, safety, and reliability of the self-driving shuttle on the University at Buffalo's Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) proving grounds. The scenarios were designed to evaluate the vehicle's performance while simulating the operational scenarios that the shuttle would encounter when deployed in the real world at a medical and educational campus in downtown Buffalo, New York. Preliminary results provide insight into the operational characteristics of the self-driving shuttle; its stopping distance behavior; its ability to detect and safely react to obstacles, conflicts, and other hazards on the road; its car-following behavior; and the impact of inclement weather conditions on performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) has been shown to be important for mediating cellular responses to stress and circulating glucocorticoids. Ligand-dependent transcriptional changes induced by GR are observed across numerous tissues. However, the mechanisms by which GR achieves cell and tissue-specific effects are less clear. Epigenetic mechanisms have been proposed to explain some of these differences as well as some of the lasting, even transgenerational, effects of stress and glucocorticoid action. GR functions in tandem with epigenetic cellular machinery to coordinate transcription and shape chromatin structure. Here, we describe GR interactions with these effectors and how GR acts to reshape the epigenetic landscape in response to the environment. Post-translational modification of epigenetic effectors regulates dyadic ligand-dependent glucocorticoid receptor transcriptional changes. Noncoding RNAs regulate glucocorticoid receptor expression and function. Tissue- and cell type-specific effects of glucocorticoids are conferred by chromatin-modifying and chromatin-state responsive protein interaction with the glucocorticoid receptor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimides (PTCDIs) have been extensively studied for organic electronics applications. Additionally, PTCDI-based supramolecular architectures have been used as platforms for the investigation of various charge transfer/transport phenomena. For these systems, the study of their structural characteristics and self-assembly behavior with molecular dynamics simulations has remained relatively limited. Herein, we describe a detailed molecular dynamics investigation of the intramolecular self-assembly of DNA-inspired columnar macromolecules, which consist of multiple hexaethyleneglycol-substituted PTCDIs that are covalently appended to a phosphoalkane backbone. By evaluating relevant geometric and energetic parameters obtained from our simulations, we determine the factors underpinning the dynamics of PTCDI stacking for our constructs. Our findings may shed insight into the structure of biomimetic one-dimensional molecular wires from PTCDIs and other related materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucocorticoids have long been recognized for their role in regulating the availability of energetic resources, particularly during stress. Furthermore, bidirectional connections between glucocorticoids and the physiology and function of mitochondria have been discovered over the years. However, the precise mechanisms by which glucocorticoids act on mitochondria have only recently been explored. Glucocorticoids appear to regulate mitochondrial transcription via activation of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) with elevated circulating glucocorticoid levels following stress. While several mechanistic questions remain, GR and other nuclear transcription factors appear to have the capacity to substantially alter mitochondrial transcript abundance. The regulation of mitochondrial transcripts by stress and glucocorticoids will likely prove functionally relevant in many stress-sensitive tissues including the brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brain is responsible for both recognition and adaptation to stressful stimuli. Many molecular mechanisms have been implicated in this response including those governing neuronal plasticity, neurogenesis and, changes gene expression. Far less is known regarding effects of stress on the deep genome. In the hippocampus, stress appears to regulate expression of non-coding elements of the genome as well as the chromatin permissive for their transcription. Specifically, hippocampal retrotransposon (RT) elements are regulated by acute stress via the accumulation of the repressive H3K9me3 mark at RT loci. Further, corticosteroids appear to induce changes in heterochromatin status as well as RT expression in both adrenalectomized animal and rat cell culture models. Dysregulation of RT expression is predicted to result in functional deficits in affected brain areas. More broadly, however, transposons may have a variety of adaptive functions. As techniques improve to probe the deep genome, this approach to understanding stress neurobiology has the potential to yield insights into environment and genome interactions that may contribute to the physiology underlying a number of stress-related mental health disorders . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bioinformatics has multitudinous identities, organisational alignments and disciplinary links. This variety allows bioinformaticians and bioinformatic work to contribute to much (if not most) of life science research in profound ways. The multitude of bioinformatic work also translates into a multitude of credit-distribution arrangements, apparently dismissing that work. Results: We report on the epistemic and social arrangements that characterise the relationship between bioinformatics and life science. We describe, in sociological terms, the character, power and future of bioinformatic work. The character of bioinformatic work is such that its cultural, institutional and technical structures allow for it to be black-boxed easily. The result is that bioinformatic expertise and contributions travel easily and quickly, yet remain largely uncredited. The power of bioinformatic work is shaped by its dependency on life science work, which combined with the black-boxed character of bioinformatic expertise further contributes to situating bioinformatics on the periphery of the life sciences. Finally, the imagined futures of bioinformatic work suggest that bioinformatics will become ever more indispensable without necessarily becoming more visible, forcing bioinformaticians into difficult professional and career choices. Conclusions: Bioinformatic expertise and labour is epistemically central but often institutionally peripheral. In part, this is a result of the ways in which the character, power distribution and potential futures of bioinformatics are constituted. However, alternative paths can be imagined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioinformatics - the so-called shotgun marriage between biology and computer science - is an interdiscipline. Despite interdisciplinarity being seen as a virtue, for having the capacity to solve complex problems and foster innovation, it has the potential to place projects and people in anomalous categories. For example, valorised 'outputs' in academia are often defined and rewarded by discipline. Bioinformatics, as an interdisciplinary bricolage, incorporates experts from various disciplinary cultures with their own distinct ways of working. Perceived problems of interdisciplinarity include difficulties of making explicit knowledge that is practical, theoretical, or cognitive. But successful interdisciplinary research also depends on an understanding of disciplinary cultures and value systems, often only tacitly understood by members of the communities in question. In bioinformatics, the 'parent' disciplines have different value systems; for example, what is considered worthwhile research by computer scientists can be thought of as trivial by biologists, and vice versa. This paper concentrates on the problems of reward and recognition described by scientists working in academic bioinformatics in the United Kingdom. We highlight problems that are a consequence of its cross-cultural make-up, recognising that the mismatches in knowledge in this borderland take place not just at the level of the practical, theoretical, or epistemological, but also at the cultural level too. The trend in big, interdisciplinary science is towards multiple authors on a single paper; in bioinformatics this has created hybrid or fractional scientists who find they are being positioned not just in-between established disciplines but also in-between as middle authors or, worse still, left off papers altogether. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioinformatics, a specialism propelled into relevance by the Human Genome Project and the subsequent -omic turn in the life science, is an interdisciplinary field of research. Qualitative work on the disciplinary identities of bioinformaticians has revealed the tensions involved in work in this “borderland.” As part of our ongoing work on the emergence of bioinformatics, between 2010 and 2011, we conducted a survey of United Kingdom-based academic bioinformaticians. Building on insights drawn from our fieldwork over the past decade, we present results from this survey relevant to a discussion of disciplinary generation and stabilization. Not only is there evidence of an attitudinal divide between the different disciplinary cultures that make up bioinformatics, but there are distinctions between the forerunners, founders and the followers; as inter/disciplines mature, they face challenges that are both inter-disciplinary and inter-generational in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper examines how leading UK psychiatric geneticists talk about public engagement. Scientific fields have distinctive publics, with specific goals for, concerns with, and obstacles to engagement. In psychiatric genetics these publics include people with psychiatric disorders, policy-makers, and even medics. We found that psychiatric geneticists justify public engagement by using the language of “stigma” in multiple ways. There is a belief in a deficit model of stigma that stigmatizing attitudes among the general public and government are the result of insufficient knowledge of the biological causes of psychiatric disorders. “Stigma” is, however, also co-opted to do rhetorical work within biomedicine, marking differences in therapeutic optimism as pathological. We suggest that the wider field of UK psychiatry is seen as mostly consisting of therapeutic pessimists, while the psychiatric geneticists are in a minority of therapeutic optimists. These attitudes are the product of the historical and social context of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Questions of community are central to many research settings in the social sciences. Rabinow argued that, in the wake of the Human Genome Project, an increasingly important form of collectivity would be biosociality . Biosociality recognises a central role for biomedical knowledge in constructing genetic identities and producing and reproducing social relationships. Accordingly, it is often imagined as a new form of social solidarity. We draw on observations of parent-led conferences to explore the way in which biosociality is expressed at events organised around a particular genetic syndrome – 22q11 deletion syndrome. The parent-led conferences took place within the United Kingdom between 2007 and 2010 and were observed as part of a multi-sited ethnographic study. By bringing together a geographically dispersed group of people together within the same physical location, conferences offer an ideal platform to empirically examine sociality. Durkheim used the term collective effervescence to describe the collective expression of heightened emotion. We suggest that in the case of the 22q11 deletion syndrome activities discussed in this paper, collective effervescence is a mechanism through which individuals become a collective. We argue that parent-led conferences gather individuals in one location on the basis of common biological factors, but it is the shared emotional experience of being together that consolidates and renews the connection between members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Merton’s early work on the ambivalence of scientists illustrates the productivity of importing a psychological concept to sociology. For commentators on the experience of modern societies, ambivalence describes the contradictory affective dimension of late modernity. In this article, our aim is to understand the extent to which sociological ambivalence reveals the contradictory relations between two orders of scientific knowledge: the epistemic and the social order. We illustrate several sorts of ‘value tensions’ in psychiatric genetics, a domain where the search for biological causes has led to several important shifts in scientific reasoning. For scientists working at a major UK research centre, we show how these tensions have transformed the organization of the scientific community; ambivalence is both a reflexive and uncomfortable response to a new way of producing knowledge. We argue that tension and ambivalence are intrinsic aspects of science-making and may reflect processes other than revolution and totalizing transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bioinformatics, the application of computer science to biological problems, is a central feature of post-genomic science which grew rapidly during the 1990s and 2000s. Post-genomic science is often high-throughput, involving the mass production of inscriptions [Latour and Woolgar (1986),Laboratory Life: the Construction of Scientific Facts. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press]. In order to render thesemass inscriptionscomprehensible, bioinformatic techniques are employed, with bioinformaticians producing what we callsecondary inscriptions. However, despite bioinformaticians being highly skilled and credentialed scientists, the field struggles to develop disciplinary coherence. This paper describes two tensions militating against disciplinary coherence. The first arises from the fact that bioinformaticians as producers ofsecondary inscriptionsare often institutionally dependent, subordinate even, to biologists. With bioinformatics positioned as service, it cannot determine its own boundaries but has them imposed from the outside. The second tension is a result of the interdisciplinary origin of bioinformatics – computer science and biology are disciplines with very different cultures, values and products. The paper uses interview data from two different UK projects to describe and examine these tensions by commenting on Calvert's [(2010) “Systems Biology, Interdisciplinarity and Disciplinary Identity.” InCollaboration in the New Life Sciences, edited by J. N. Parker, N. Vermeulen and B. Penders, 201–219. Farnham: Ashgate] notion of individual and collaborative interdisciplinarity and McNally's [(2008) “Sociomics: CESAGen Multidisciplinary Workshop on the Transformation of Knowledge Production in the Biosciences, and its Consequences.”Proteomics8: 222–224] distinction between “black box optimists” and “black box pessimists.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Hypernormal science" has minimal potential for contestation on matters of principle and practice so that information exchange can be unproblematic. Sciences comprise hypernormal domains and more contestable "normal" domains where knowledge diffusion, like acquiring linguistic fluency, depends on face-to-face interaction. Hypernormal domains belonging to molecular biology are contrasted with normal domains in gravitational wave detection physics. Sciences as a whole should not be confused with their typical domains. The analysis has immediate implications for proposed transitions out of the Covid-19 lockdown, proposed solutions to the replication crisis, and, perhaps, our understanding of the early development of social studies of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabricating large single crystals with colloidal spheresas buildingblocks is challenging and of competitive interest. Spin-coating ofcolloids offers a robust technique, which is highly reproducible inobtaining colloidal crystals even at fast dynamical regimes; however,these crystals are intrinsically polycrystalline due to the axialsymmetry of spin-coating. We report a new method that applies a nonuniformelectric field during the spin-coating process. By arranging the fielddirection to be stationary in the rotating frame, we are able to breakthe axial symmetry and to orient the colloids along one predefineddirection. By regulating the applied field strength, we demonstratelocal control over the orientation of the crystallites, and thus,the orientation is determined by the applied field strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of complexity in descriptions of the aetiology of common psychiatric disorders. While scientists attest to the discovery of an underlying reality of complex inheritance - the so-called 'witches' brew' of genetic and non-genetic factors - we argue that 'complexity' also performs rhetorical work. In our analysis of scientific review papers (1999-2008), we find a relatively stable genre of accountability in which descriptions of complexity appear to neutralize past failures by incorporating different and sometimes competing methodological perspectives. We identify two temporal strategies: retrospective accounting, which reconstructs a history of psychiatric genetics that deals with the recent failures, citing earlier twin studies as proof of the heritability of common psychiatric disorders; and prospective accounting, which engages in the careful reconstruction of expectations by balancing methodological limitations with moderated optimism. Together, these strategies produce a simple-to-complex narrative that belies the ambivalent nature of complexity. We show that the rhetorical construction of complexity in scientific review papers is oriented to bridging disciplinary boundaries, marshalling new resources and reconstructing expectations that justify delays in gene discovery and risk prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate on empowerment encompasses an older discourse about the intrinsic value of empowerment, and a newer discourse about the instrumental benefits of empowerment; the concept of agency is useful in understanding this distinction. In agricultural development, empowerment efforts are often instrumentalist, viewed as an advanced form of participation that will improve project effectiveness, with adoption rates that promote compliance rather than intrinsic empowerment. Nevertheless, it is possible for projects to enhance the means for - and facilitate the process of - intrinsic empowerment. With regard to process, research and extension can make use of a constructivist rather than the behaviourist approach to support changes in knowledge, behaviour, and social relationships. In assessing empowerment, both developers and 'developees' need to look for evidence that people are taking control of their lives. Case studies - such as those used by the Indonesian Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme - will help to capture context and chronology, with unplanned behaviours being particularly useful indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimates of canine and feline euthanasia at U.S. animal shelters—largely based on voluntary surveys with low response rates—make it difficult to estimate the population from which the euthanized animals derive. Estimates of euthanasia rates (animals euthanized per unit of population) have varied widely and been available only sporadically. This study used requirements of Michigan state law (Pet Shops, Dog Pounds, and Animal Shelters Act, 1969) for animal shelters to collect admission and discharge data for all 176 Michigan-licensed animal shelters. In 2003, Michigan shelters discharged 140,653 dogs: Of these, 56,972 (40%) were euthanized; 40,005 (28%) were adopted. This annual euthanasia rate is 2.6% of the estimated 2003 Michigan dog population. Michigan shelters discharged 134,405 cats in 2003: 76,321 (57%) by euthanasia and (24%) by adoption. The estimated ratio of euthanized cats to cats who had owners was 3.1%. Small shelters and privately owned shelters were associated with higher adoption rates. Comparison with historical information from the past 10 to 20 years suggests the number of companion animals being euthanized in shelters has decreased and that progress has been made in reducing the companion animal overpopulation problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with relevance of the Australia-New Zealand-United States Security Treaty to Australia's young people. Security arrangement between Australia and the United States; Public debate about defense; Younger generations' experiences of Australia in military conflicts; Perceptions of threat and alliance.

Discusses the connection between the art of digital sampling in African American hip hop and an African American/African diasporic aesthetic. Transformations in African American aesthetic history; References to Harlem in early Duke Ellington compositions; Contexts for exercising musical technology historically in the United States; Musico-social collaborations.

Presents the emergence of avant-garde improvisational jazz in the mid-to-late 1950s, to the present underlying identity in music that is increasingly complex but ironically absent from contemporary discussion of arts during the period and/or critical work on African American musical identity. Pual Gilroy's historicization of the importance of music in the African diasporic world.

Simple Summary: Innovative chemotherapy regimens and tools to guide therapy in advanced pancreatic cancer are greatly needed. We present results of a study combining an innovative, metronomic chemotherapy strategy together with a blood-based pharmacogenomic tool to guide effective drug therapy. This study provides proof of principle that guided, metronomic chemotherapy for treatment of pancreatic cancer is a promising approach. Cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment for advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Emerging studies support metronomic chemotherapy (MCT) as effective, challenging established paradigms of dosing and schedules. The blood-based ChemoSensitivity Assay has been shown to predict response and survival in advanced PDAC patients treated with standard chemotherapy. The current study combines these concepts for a highly personalized treatment approach. This was a retrospective analysis; a pilot (n = 50) and validation cohort (n = 45) were studied. The ChemoSensitivity Assay was performed at baseline and during therapy; results were correlated to drugs administered and patient outcomes. MCT was administered based on the assay results at the treating physician′s discretion. Patients in the pilot cohort experienced favorable survival compared with historical controls (median overall survival (mOS) 16.8 mo). Patients whose treatment closely matched the ChemoSensitivity Assay predictions experienced longer median time on lines of therapy (5.3 vs. 3.3 mo, p = 0.02) and showed a trend for longer mOS (20.9 vs. 12.5 mo, p = 0.055) compared with those not closely matched. These findings were confirmed in the validation cohort. Overall, patients treated with MCT closely matching Assay results experienced a remarkable mOS of 27.7 mo. ChemoSensitivity profiling-guided MCT is a promising approach for personalized therapy in advanced PDAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxytocin is important for postnatal developmental experiences for mothers, infants, and transactions between them. Oxytocin is also implicated in adult affiliative behaviors, including social buffering of stress. There is evidence for connections between early life experience and adult oxytocin system functioning, but effects of early experience on behavioral, endocrine, and neurophysiological outcomes related to adult social buffering are not well explored. We use a limited bedding and nesting (LBN) material paradigm as an environmental disruption of early experiences and assessed central oxytocin systems in brain regions related to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulation (paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus). We also assessed developmentally-appropriate social behaviors and HPA reactivity during social buffering testing in adulthood. LBN litters had larger huddles and more pups visible compared to control litters during the first two weeks of life. LBN also altered the developmental trajectory of oxytocin-expressing cells and oxytocin receptor cells, with increases in oxytocin receptor cells at P15 in LBN pups. By adulthood, LBN females had more and LBN males had fewer oxytocin and oxytocin receptor cells in these areas compared to sex-matched controls. Adult LBN females, but not LBN males, had behavioral changes during social interaction and social buffering testing. The sex-specific effects of early experience on central oxytocin systems and social behavior may contribute to female resilience to early life adversity. • Limited bedding and nesting material changes maternal behavior and pup huddling behavior. • Limited bedding changes oxytocin and oxytocin receptor cells depending on age, sex, and brain region. • Oxytocin and oxytocin receptor cells increase in females and decrease in males by adulthood. • Limited bedding changes social behavior in females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we try to characterize the fringe of science as opposed to the mainstream, We want to do this in order to provide some theory of the difference that can be used by policy-makers and other decision-makers but without violating the principles of what has been called 'Wave Two of Science Studies', Therefore our demarcation criteria rest on differences in the forms of life of the two activities rather than questions of rationality or rightness; we try to show the ways in which the fringe differs from the mainstream in terms of the way they think about and practice the institution of science, Along the way we provide descriptions of fringe institutions and sciences and their outlets, We concentrate mostly on physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: The Transformative Research on the Alcohol industry, Policy and Science (TRAPS) programme investigates the alcohol industry, with an innovative focus on public health sciences. TRAPS adds to an under‐developed literature on the study of alcohol industry influence on alcohol science and policymaking. This paper provides a synthesis of TRAPS findings to inform future research. Methods: We conducted an interpretive review of TRAPS research findings across its component studies, identifying and integrating the key contributions made by individual studies to the literature on alcohol policymaking and science, and identifying areas where TRAPS progress was limited. This produced themes for consideration in future research agenda setting. Results: TRAPS explored the interventions of the alcohol industry in science and policymaking using various methods, including systematic reviews and qualitative interviews. These studies identified the industry's activities in several key areas, such as the debate over minimum unit pricing (MUP), cardiovascular health and alcohol research and a long‐running public relations programme developed in close connection with the tobacco industry. Collectively, the research shows that alcohol policymaking has involved a contest between the research community and alcohol industry actors about whether and how science should be used to inform policy. Conclusions: The TRAPS programme demonstrates the need for a transdisciplinary approach to understand the nature of corporate political activity; the crucial role industry involvement in science plays in the development of corporate political power; and how public health actors have successfully overcome industry opposition to evidence‐based policies. Advances in alcohol policy should be underpinned by strong, reflexive public health sciences, alert to the role of industry in the alcohol harms under study and thorough in their investigation of the alcohol industry as an object of study in itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a refractory disease; however, modern cytotoxic chemotherapeutics can induce tumor regression and extend life. A blood‐based, pharmacogenomic, chemosensitivity assay using gene expression profiling of circulating tumor and invasive cells (CTICs) to predict treatment response was previously developed. The combination regimen of 5‐fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) and gemcitabine/nab‐paclitaxel (G/nab‐P) are established frontline approaches for treating advanced PDAC; however, there are no validated biomarkers for treatment selection. A similar unmet need exists for choosing second‐line therapy. Methods: The chemosensitivity assay was evaluated in metastatic PDAC patients presenting for frontline treatment. A prospective study enrolled patients (n = 70) before receiving either FOLFIRINOX or G/nab‐P at a 1:1 ratio. Six milliliters of peripheral blood was collected at baseline and at time of disease progression. CTICs were isolated, gene‐expression profiling was performed, and the assay was used to predict effective and ineffective chemotherapeutic agents. Treating physicians were blinded to the assay prediction results. Results: Patients receiving an effective regimen as predicted by the chemosensitivity assay experienced significantly longer median progression‐free survival (mPFS; 7.8 months vs. 4.2 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.35; p =.0002) and median overall survival (mOS; 21.0 months vs. 9.7 months; HR, 0.40; p =.005), compared with an ineffective regimen. Assay prediction for effective second‐line therapy was explored. The entire study cohort experienced favorable outcomes compared with historical controls, 7.1‐month mPFS and 12.3‐month mOS. Conclusions: Chemosensitivity assay profiling is a promising tool for guiding therapy in advanced PDAC. Further prospective validation is under way (clinicaltrials.gov NCT03033927). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An age-matched case-control study was initiated to determine the major risk factors associated with CKD in cats and dogs and to determine what clinical signs cat and dog owners observed before their veterinarian diagnosed their pet with CKD. When compared to controls, the feline cases were more likely to have had polydipsia and polyuria in the year before the owners' cats were diagnosed with CKD. In the dogs, increased water intake, increased urination, small size and a recent history of weight loss and bad breath were noticed by the dog owners before veterinary CKD diagnosis. Dog owners recognized abnormal drinking and urination behavior over half a year before their pet's veterinary diagnosis with CKD, and they recognized weight loss almost 4 months before CKD diagnosis. Bad breath was noticed 1.2 years before recognition of CKD by a veterinarian. Given that earlier CKD diagnosis should have been possible in most cases, clinical trials should proceed to measure the efficacy of early interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The stress response is multifactorial and should be considered in specific contexts. • The regulation of multiple biobehavioral systems is necessary to avoid allostatic load. • Allostatic mechanisms are regulated by both predisposed and acquired systems. • Relevant proportions of stress markers are important for understanding resilience. The ability to adapt to stressful circumstances, known as emotional resilience, is a key factor in the maintenance of mental health. Several individual biomarkers of the stress response (e.g., corticosterone) that influence an animal's position along the continuum that ranges from adaptive allostasis to maladaptive allostatic load have been identified. Extending beyond specific biomarkers of stress responses, however, it is also important to consider stress-related responses relative to other relevant responses for a thorough understanding of the underpinnings of adaptive allostasis. In this review, behavioral, neurobiological, developmental and genomic variables are considered in the context of emotional resilience [e.g., explore/exploit behavioral tendencies; DHEA/CORT ratios and relative proportions of protein-coding/nonprotein-coding (transposable) genomic elements]. As complex and multifaceted relationships between pertinent allostasis biomediators are identified, translational applications for optimal resilience are more likely to emerge as effective therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]