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As you get older, a couple of things happen – the probability of your own dying increases, and so too does that of friends. So, recently there have been the deaths of some very good friends and colleagues.

Background Chronic pain is a leading cause of disability, often requiring multidisciplinary management. 2021 NICE guidance has questioned the quality of the evidence surrounding the efficacy of pain management programmes (PMPs), with only minor benefit demonstrated in psychological and physical outcomes. There is need for further high-quality evidence for the efficacy of PMPs for a range of chronic pain conditions and to identify barriers to successful management of chronic pain. Objective This service evaluation utilised routinely collected outcome data of 508 PMP attendees to investigate change in pain- and patient-related outcomes across two distinct PMPs; a standard and an intensive PMP, and establish their longer-term efficacy and appropriateness for patients with differing degrees of need. Results More people with chronic widespread pain, fibromyalgia, and osteoarthritis were referred to the intensive PMP (reflecting greater disability and distress in these conditions). Those referred to the intensive PMP demonstrated greater distress (such as more severe depression and anxiety), lower pain acceptance and poorer physical function. Improvements were observed in all outcomes across both PMPs (including physical function, pain catastrophising and pain acceptance). Depression and disability demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in the intensive PMP, and pain severity showed clinically meaningful improvement in both PMPs. However, depression severity, disability, pain severity, and pain interference significantly deteriorated at 6-month follow-up for those on the intensive PMP, with pain severity increasing to a clinically meaningful degree (by more than 10%), though these outcomes remained better than at baseline. Conclusion This evaluation identified that people with chronic pain most at risk of deterioration in physical and psychological wellbeing after completing a PMP require early identification to mitigate such deterioration. Established and emerging PMPs need to be tailored to the needs of this group, particularly at follow-up to reduce risks of pain severity increasing, alongside establishing/reinforcing safeguards against deterioration post-PMP.

Objectives Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are a well-established cell source for cartilage engineering, but challenges remain as differentiation often results in chondrocyte hypertrophy. Chondrogenic potential also varies with MSC source and donor age. We assessed the chondrogenic potential of first-trimester and term placental MSCs and compared their response to commonly used bone marrow MSCs (BM-MSCs). Design MSCs were isolated from first-trimester and term placentae. BM-MSCs were commercially obtained. Chondrogenesis was induced by micromass culture in commercial chondrogenic media for 7, 14, or 21 days. Pellets were assessed for glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, and types I, II, and X collagen. Gene expression was profiled using Qiagen RT2 human MSC arrays. Results At day 0, first-trimester and term MSCs expression levels of many chondrogenic genes to BM-MSC after 21 days of culture. Only first trimester MSCs showed significant changes in chondrogenic gene expression during induction compared to day 0 undifferentiated MSCs (greater BMP4, KAT2B, and reduced GDF6 expression). Additionally, first-trimester MSCs showed significantly greater expression of ABCB1 (at days 14 and 21) and BMP4 (at days 7, 14, 21) compared with term MSCs. Both first-trimester and term pellets showed increased GAG content over time and term MSCs had significantly GAG greater compared with BM-MSCs at days 7 and 14. Type II collagen was present in all pellets but unlike BM-MSCs, type I collagen was not observed in first-trimester or term MSC pellets. Conclusions These data highlight differences in BM-MSC and placental MSC chondrogenesis and demonstrate that placental MSCs may be an alternative cell source.

In this study, we explore how participants articulate experiences of emotions during Covid-19 lockdown in the UK. We posit that emotions fulfil experiential and interpersonal functions, which are construed and conveyed through language choices. An online narrative survey was carried out. About 88 responses were analysed. Participants were from England and Wales. The mean age was 48.9 years old (SD = 62). A mixed-method approach was used. This combined quantitative Corpus Linguistics analysis and qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis with linguistic analysis. The findings show similarities to the public health and medical literature that highlight negative emotions, such as fear, distrust and anger in participants. However, we also found positive emotions not considered elsewhere, including happiness, relaxation, safety, optimism for the future and connectedness arising from the thematic IPA analysis. Emotions were construed using language explicitly labelling emotions and language implicitly signalling emotions. Our study highlights implications for managing risk behaviours associated with transmission in public health practices such as social distancing, as indicated by negative emotions. We also bring to light implications with perceived benefits of engaging in protective behaviours and social support central to public health measures, as suggested by the communication of positive emotions.

Electronic monitoring (EM) of individuals has been used by the criminal justice system for the past thirty years, and in the UK, use is on the increase. Its use has been justified as an alternative to prison to reduce recidivism and allowing early release of prisoners, however, the evidence base for this remains mixed. In 2010, it was employed for the first time in a forensic psychiatry setting. A study investigating the effects of EM on leave episodes concluded that EM may improve the speed of patient progress and reduce the length of admission, leading to reduced costs and increased public safety. However, the intervention generated considerable controversy and sparked discussion about ethical concerns. Here, we consider specifically legal and human rights issues that emerge from use of EM in forensic healthcare settings, scrutinising its use in the context of the Mental Health Act and the Human Rights Act. We conclude that EM is legal and justifiable, providing it is used judiciously and with due consideration of concerns for the individual and the given context.

This paper a will provide background and research outcomes for a student-led multi-University motion capture design project with the FDA Human Device Interaction Lab. This research project spawned from the FDA’s interest in studying mobile Apps used to collect information about a rehabilitation patient’s function outside of a laboratory setting. This is particularly important from a research perspective as it allows knowledge to be gathered about the reliability, safety, and efficacy of such devices, which can later inform human factors guidelines and regulatory oversight. While there is a wide range of applications for remote monitoring of patient function, this project focuses specifically on wearables used to track rehabilitative progress of individuals suffering from upper or lower limb impairment. These wearables may also be used to assess the efficacy of a new assistive technology intended to restore or augment function. The interdisciplinary student teams applied human-centered design principles to develop and prototype hardware and software components for a rotatable body-worn mobile device holder to remotely track rehabilitation progress. The design process and outcomes are presented along with insights on further development of system components.

To the extent that philosophy deals with the blush, it is almost always as the pink blush of shame. Such is philosophy’s seeming obsession with the latter, there remains the risk of something important being lost in translation when it comes to those examples in the literature that mention the blush. I intend to focus on one such example, a scene from Robert Antelme’s The Human Race, the story of the student from Bologna, in which Antelme describes the student’s blushing response to being randomly selected by an SS soldier from a bedraggled line of prisoners for a roadside execution. I will turn to Lisa Guenther and Giorgio Agamben for their reading of Antelme’s account, not, I should stress, to evaluate their respective analyses of shame, but that which may have been overlooked as a result, namely confusion. I will turn also to Jean-Paul Sartre, again, not in relation to shame, rather for his brief, but no less important, phenomenological account of blushing. I will refer to recent social psychology research suggesting that confusion is a knowledge emotion – something like embarrassment (as aporia). All this in support of the argument, that when Antelme writes of the student – ‘ Il a l’air confus’ (‘He seems confused’), we are bound to take them both, the student and Antelme, the blusher and the beholder, at their word – to maintain our distance so that the scene might speak for itself and in so doing reveal signs of life.

“Upskirting” is the action or practice of surreptitiously taking photographs or videos up a female’s skirt or dress. In the United Kingdom, it is an offense. However, internationally, laws are uneven. Understanding how perpetrators account for their actions becomes an important question. Here, we present the findings of our thematic analysis of posts on the “upskirting” website, The Candid Zone. Our analysis shows that posters and respondents frame this activity as artistic and technical, providing each other with advice and guidance on where and how to get the “best” shots. We conceptualize this form of abuse as homosociality and crafts manship.

The aim of the article is to examine if and how the welfare state regime typology translates into a violence regime typology in a European context. It builds on the concept of violence regimes (Strid et al. 2017; Hearn et al. 2020) to empirically examine whether the production of interpersonal violence constitutes distinct regimes, and how these correspond (or not) with welfare regimes, gender regimes, and with other comparative metrics on violence, gender equality and feminist mobilisation and transnational actors. Its main contribution is to operationalise the concept of violence regimes, thereby moving from theory to a first empirical measurement. By first constructing a new composite measure of violence, a Violence Regimes Index, based on secondary administrative and survey data covering the then 28 EU member states, countries are clustered along two axes of violence: ‘deadly’ violence and ‘damaging’ gender-based violence. This serves to examine if, and how, the production of gendered violence in different states constitutes distinct regimes, analogous to welfare state regimes, as well as to enable future research and further comparisons and contrasts, specifically related to violence and the welfare state. By providing an empirical measurement of violence regimes in the EU, the article then contributes further to the debates on welfare, welfare regimes, and violence. It specifically contributes with discussions on the extent to which there are different violence regimes, comparable to welfare regimes, and with discussions on the relevance of moving from thinking about violence as an institution within other inequality regimes, to thinking about violence as a macro-regime, a way of governing and ruling in its own right. The article concludes that the exclusion of violence from mainstream social theory and research has produced results that may not be valid, and offers an alternative classification using the concept of violence regimes, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of the concept.

The 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates provide a unique opportunity to systematically evaluate network visual production choices in a multicandidate context. The joint decision of the Democratic National Committee and NBC to include an expansive field of twenty contenders through “prime-time” debates on consecutive nights (June 26 and 27, 2019) provided for a natural experiment with equal numbers of top- and second-tier candidates randomly assigned to each night. In this preregistered study, we evaluate whether candidates are treated differently in the amount of camera time they receive (visual priming) and types of camera shots they appear in (visual framing) based on electoral status. We replicate a study of the initial two Democratic and Republican 2016 presidential primary debates for each party and that found the top-two candidates received substantially better visual coverage than all others. We confirm and extend these findings by evaluating different operationalizations of electoral status (top-two, top-tier, stage position, and poll standing). Findings suggest that when visual priming is considered, stage position outperforms other electoral status indicators in terms of explaining variance for total camera and average fixation time. In terms of visual framing, head-and-shoulder “one-shots” are better predicted by top-tier status, whereas public opinion poll standing predicts increased time spent in multiple-candidate shots. Finally, appearances in “two-shots” (side-by-side and split-screen portrayals) were not significantly explained by electoral status, likely due to the paucity of these depictions.

Objective: The shortage of addiction psychiatrists in Australia results in poor access to specialist care. This is most evident in rural Australia, a population experiencing significant issues related to drugs, alcohol and mental illness. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of addiction psychiatry training in rural Australia. Purposeful and well-coordinated educational opportunities for health professionals in rural settings can assist in recruitment and retention. This report will describe the establishment of an addiction psychiatry training programme in regional Victoria. Conclusion: Rural addiction psychiatry training programmes that ensure trainees meet the competencies required of an addiction psychiatrist can be established. Key components in establishing programmes are: collaboration between a breadth of local services; provision of quality supervision; support of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), senior psychiatrists and managers; provision of assistance to trainees and their families; and appropriate selection of trainees.

This brief essay considers the impact of the current conjunctural crisis on ideas about, and access to the ‘future’. It explores ways in which cultural critics and scholars might learn to think ‘scandalously’ in order to imagine and build a more equitable and humane world.

Our research is guided by the aim to use counterstories pedagogically in teacher education. We report on counterstory-based parent teacher conference simulations, where composite case narratives support teacher candidates in taking up asset-based perspectives. Our work rests upon the assertion that asset-based framing must not remain purely conceptual; rather, asset-based frames must infuse teaching practice. We examine how counterstories can be constructed to ensure that they are robust, respectful, and pedagogically useful for teacher education.

Background: Injury incidence for physically active populations with a high volume of physical load can exceed 79%. There is little existing research focused on timing of injury and how that timing differs based on certain risk factors. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to report both the incidence and timing of lower extremity injuries during cadet basic training. We hypothesized that women, those with a history of injury, and those in underweight and obese body mass index (BMI) categories would sustain lower extremity musculoskeletal injury earlier in the training period than men, those without injury history, and those in the normal-weight BMI category. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Cadets from the class of 2022, arriving in 2018, served as the study population. Baseline information on sex and injury history was collected via questionnaire, and BMI was calculated from height and weight taken during week 1 at the United States Military Academy. Categories were underweight (BMI Results: A total of 595 cadets participated. The cohort was 76.8% male, with 29.9% reporting previous injury history and 93.3% having a BMI between 20 and 30. Overall, 16.3% of cadets (12.3% of male cadets and 29.7% of female cadets) experienced an injury during the follow-up period. Women experienced significantly greater incident injury than did men ( P < .001). Separation of survival curves comparing the sexes and injury history occurred at weeks 3 and 4, respectively. Hazards for first musculoskeletal injury were significantly greater for women versus men (HR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.76-3.94) and for those who reported a history of injury versus no injury history (HR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.18-2.64). No differences were observed between BMI categories. Conclusion: Female cadets and those reporting previous musculoskeletal injury demonstrated a greater hazard of musculoskeletal injury during cadet basic training. This study did not observe an association between BMI and injury.

Following introductory remarks on how the terms “masculinities” and “men” have been used differentially in recent critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM), the article reviews some key aspects of CSMM - past, present and future. The diverse influences on CSMM have included various feminisms, gay studies, anti-imperialism, civil rights, anti-racism, green and environmental movements, as well as LGBTIQ+ movements, Critical Race Studies, Globalization/Transnational Studies, and Intersectionality Studies. In the present period, the range of theoretical and political approaches and influences on studies continues to grow, with, for example, queer, post-, post post-, new materialist, posthumanist, and science and technology studies, making for some discontinuities with established masculinities theory. In many regions, there are now more women working explicitly and long-term in the area, even if that is itself not new. CSMM have also become more geographically widespread, more dispersed, more comparative, international, transnational, postcolonial, decolonializing, globally “Southern”, global, globalized and globalizing; this diversifying feature is transforming CSMM. Key areas for future research are identified, including the relations of men and masculinities to: first, ecology, environment and climate change; second, ICTs, social media, AI, robotics and big data; third, transnational/global, transnational institutions and processes; and, fourth, nationalism, racism, authoritarianism, neo-fascism and political masculinism. Together, these make for a “lurking doom”. At the same time, there is a whole range of wider theoretical, methodological, epistemological and ontological questions to be taken up in CSMM much more fully in the future.

BackgroundCollege-completion policies dominate state higher education policy agendas. Yet we know little about how policy actors make decisions—and what sources of evidence they use—within this policy domain.Focus of StudyThis study explores the use of evidence in college-completion policymaking in depth, focusing on Texas. In addition to exploring policymakers’ use of different types of information, this study examines the role played by intermediaries.Research DesignWe employed a qualitative case study design drawing on interviews with 32 policy actors engaged in college-completion policy in Texas. Our analysis consisted of both deductive coding (based on our a priori coding scheme) and inductive coding (based on emerging themes) to arrive at our four major findings.Findings/ResultsThe analysis revealed four primary findings. The first theme suggests an insular culture of college-completion policymaking: Policymakers at various levels preferred Texas-based data and rejected the notion that external groups contributed to setting the college completion agenda in Texas. Second, business groups and a business ethos permeated college-completion policymaking in Texas. Third, research evidence was seldom employed in this policy process, partly because policymakers prefer concise and timely information. Finally, the study uncovered a new tactic for supplying research employed by certain intermediaries: punchy messaging, which was effective at garnering attention but also yielded unintended consequences.Conclusions/RecommendationsOverwhelmingly, higher education policy actors tended to prefer Texas-based data. Respondents cited three major reasons for this preference: the high quality of the state higher education coordinating board's data, Texas's unique demographics, and the accessibility of statewide data. These findings reflect the mediating role that is played not only by state structural characteristics, but also by culture. Perceptions of Texas's distinctive inward-looking nature permeated our interviews and set the stage for the role that intermediaries played in the state and the preferences for information. Intermediaries wishing to inform college-completion policy activity at the state level should consider the uniqueness of the state context in supplying information. For states that are more insular, like Texas, working through internal (in-state) intermediaries may be an effective strategy. In light of our findings of preferred types of information, those intending to influence policymaking should consider making information—especially research evidence—concise and easily accessible and establish relationships with policymakers and their staff members.

Where are the boundaries of sexuality? : Hovering in a zone of uncertainty between sexualities and non-sexualities

This article challenges the idea that competition was central to Adam Smith’s thinking by scrutinizing the concept’s role in Smith’s work, particularly The Wealth of Nations. We will understand Smith’s perspective better if we avoid reading later developments of the concept, particularly in economics, back into Smith’s times and writings. Conversely, I argue that the division of labor is the governing idea providing the basic organizational structure of Wealth of Nations. Clarifying (and demoting) the role of competition in Smith’s thinking requires showing the centrality of the idea of the division of labor—the idea doing the major analytic work in his thinking. The argument contributes to recent reassessments of the scope and significance of Smith’s social theory and strengthens the view that his approach has more in common with historical and political sociology than with economics as currently configured.

A method to measure the performance of bridge preservation through the use of bridge–level element condition reports is demonstrated. The performance measure makes bridge-by-bridge evaluations of the relative conditions of elements that are major assemblies of bridges and elements that affect the exposure of major assemblies to deterioration. In an evaluation of performance, a bridge can be in a state of good preservation, at risk of deteriorating to poor condition, or already in poor condition. Bridge condition reports from 50 U.S. states are used in this evaluation of the performance of bridge preservation. The bridge element reports conform to the FHWA specification for bridge element reports and employ AASHTO national bridge elements and bridge management elements. Bridge preservation is good for 53% of National Highway System bridges by deck area. The performance of preservation is evaluated for major assemblies of bridges and for bridge construction materials in relation to coatings, wearing surfaces, and joints.

The governance of affect by capital has seen its ideological legitimation and emblematic site of production in the mainstream television industry, specifically reality television programs, as they provide templates for affective self-presentation to the public at large. As even a cursory glance at most reality television production demonstrates, it is most often women’s bodies and self-concepts that bear the burden of signifying and legitimating the message of this new economic formation: ‘conform to our template, be seen, and build a reputation!’ This article will focus on the Real Housewives franchise, which along with its network Bravo is credited with saving the fortunes of NBC, as the paradigmatic example of these new narrative trends and business models. It will interrogate the historical resonances and discontinuities between the economy of affective visibility now apparent on reality television and its modes of production and the origins of the ‘real’ housewife in early capitalism. At this time, women’s skills, bodies and reproductive capacities were violently restructured; forbidden from earning a wage or having money, women’s work inside and outside the home was simultaneously appropriated and concealed. As reality television inaugurates new kinds of labor and value creation in the 21st century, it does so in ways that are deeply gendered or ‘housewifized’; reality television’s forms of hidden, precarious, and unregulated labour recall the appropriation and denigration of the value of women’s work by systems of capitalist expansion in the 16th and 17th centuries.

This brief editorial links Trump’s popularity to reality television’s messages of promotionalism and the spread of overt forms of self-branding and reputation-seeking across the population at large thanks to social media. Against the backdrop of growing economic insecurity, most people must now assiduously self-promote and hustle in order to find or protect their jobs. Trump supporters are not ‘dupes’ buying the hype then; they recognize that Trump’s brand is his skill set, admire it, and see it as all the qualification he needs to become president. While Trump’s ‘brand’ is figured as the result of his own personal style and power, it is actually the product of the underpaid, highly exploited labour of thousands of workers. Trump the Brand and reality television’s gauzy promise of mini-celebrity are symptoms of, and alibis for a flawed and failing political economic system. It will take the concerted, collective power of people in the streets, demanding something better, to stop him.

Described by political scientists as a necessary condition for efficiency, productivity, and prosperity, trust has become a precept of good governance with global reach. The concept is often marshaled to support a conservative political agenda of state retrenchment and market deregulation. Proponents of this agenda argue that the natural inclination of private actors to trust and cooperate with each other is undermined by government monitoring and compliance regulations. The evidence from Mexico points to an alternative conclusion: when carefully targeted, state support to private actors has strengthened rather than impeded trusting relationships between suppliers, customers, and investors. Commercial competition with China raises an urgent challenge for Mexico’s government: to broaden the scope of its assistance beyond a narrow set of elite firms to small and medium-sized enterprises, including those of the resident Chinese community.Considerado por politólogos como condición necesaria para la eficiencia, productividad y prosperidad, la confianza ha llegado a ser un precepto de buena gobernanza con alcance global. Se utiliza el concepto a menudo para respaldar una agenda política conservadora de recortes del estado y desregulación del mercado. Los defensores de tal agenda sostienen que la inclinación natural de actores privados de confiar y cooperar entre sí es socavada por la fiscalización gubernamental y las regulaciones de cumplimiento. La evidencia desde México apunta a una conclusión alternativa: seleccionado cuidadosamente, el apoyo estatal a actores privados ha fortalecido en vez de impedir las relaciones de confianza entre proveedores, clientes, e inversores. La competencia comercial con la China presenta un desafío urgente para el gobierno de México: de ampliar el alcance de su ayuda más allá de un conjunto reducido de compañías élites hacia pequeñas y medianas empresas, inclu-yendo las de la comunidad residente china.

Sino-Cuban relations have deepened rapidly since the beginning of the twenty-first century, propelled by both political ideology and economic interests. A shared commitment to socialism with “local characteristics” has enabled the pursuit of an unusually broad range of cooperative initiatives. These include Chinese investment in the Cuban nickel and oil sectors, educational and medical exchange programs, the development of tourism, and engagement with the Chinese diaspora on the island. Data from Chinese sources on these spheres of engagement reflect an attempt to address contemporary needs with a blend of state and market forces. The intensification of Sino-Cuban relations over the past decade poses no challenge to the United States; on the contrary, it opens new opportunities for trilateral cooperation. Las relaciones sino-cubanos se han profundizado rápidamente desde comienzos del siglo XXI, impulsadas tanto por ideología política como por intereses económicos. Un compromiso compartido al socialismo con “características locales” ha permitido la consecución de una gama inusualmente amplia de iniciativas cooperativas. Éstas incluyen la inversión china en sectores cubanos de níquel y petróleo, programas de intercambio educacionales y médicos, el fomento de turismo, y la interacción con la diáspora china en la isla. Datos de fuentes chinas sobre estos ámbitos de interacción reflejan un intento de abordar necesidades contemporáneas con una mezcla de fuerzas estatales y del mercado. La profundización de relaciones sino-cubanas en recientes décadas no presenta ningún desafío a los Estados Unidos; al contrario, abre nuevas oportunidades de cooperación trilateral.