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Objectives Quercetin & Rutin, are bioactive compounds that are widely used for various therapeutic properties. There’s been growing interest in the biological activities of these polyphenols belonging to the class of flavonoids known to have various health benefits. Quercetin is now popularly recognized as a phytochemical remedy for a plethora of disease groups such as metabolic syndrome (more specifically diabetes), obesity/weight management and mood disorders. Due to its unique chemical structure, the most prominent property of Quercetin is probably its antioxidant capability. It acts as a free radical scavenger to form resonance-stabilized phenoxyl radicals. Certain in vitro studies have also shown quercetin to have anti-viral, anti-carcinogenic and platelet aggregation properties. Rutin has also been shown to exert diverse biological effects such as anti-tumor activities, reduction of inflammatory cytokines and antimicrobial activities. The current study was designed to further confirm the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory property of a Quercetin–Rutin blend (SophorOx™). Methods The analysis was performed in a cell-based assay using RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line. SophorOx™ was screened for cytotoxicity using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) to obtain optimum concentrations for experimental assays. SophorOx™ was measured for pro-inflammatory cytokine levels (TNF-α & IL-6) and nitric oxide (NO) levels. Additionally, ROS (reactive oxygen species) levels in RAW cells were estimated using a cell-permeant reagent 2′7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA). Results SophorOx™ at 10 µM concentration, exhibited an anti-inflammatory property with significant inhibitory levels of TNF-α (∼28.25%) and IL-6 (∼32.25%). SophorOx™ at similar concentrations reduced nitric oxide levels to 70.55% in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Raw 264.7 cells stimulated with LPS exhibited a significant increase in intracellular ROS and this was significantly reduced (78.2% reduction) at lower concentrations (0.3 µM) of SophorOx™. Conclusions The anti-inflammatory effects of SophorOx™ were investigated in LPS stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Data suggests, that SophorOx™ reduced levels of nitric oxide, intracellular ROS and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α & IL-6) at low concentrations without affecting the viability of RAW cells. Present invitro trial suggests that SophorOx™ is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent and displays a prominent ability to block mediators of oxidative stress and inflammation.

Many countries, including Italy, have experienced significant social and spatial inequalities in mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study applies a multiple exposures framework to investigate how joint place-based factors influence spatial inequalities of excess mortality during the first year of the Covid −19 pandemic in the Lombardy region of Italy. For the Lombardy region, we integrated municipality-level data on all-cause mortality between 2015 and 2020 with 13 spatial covariates, including 5-year average concentrations of six air pollutants, the average temperature in 2020, and multiple socio-demographic factors, and health facilities per capita. Using the clustering algorithm Bayesian profile regression, we fit spatial covariates jointly to identify clusters of municipalities with similar exposure profiles and estimated associations between clusters and excess mortality in 2020. Cluster analysis resulted in 13 clusters. Controlling for spatial autocorrelation of excess mortality and health-protective agency, two clusters had significantly elevated excess mortality than the rest of Lombardy. Municipalities in these highest-risk clusters are in Bergamo, Brescia, and Cremona provinces. The highest risk cluster (C11) had the highest long-term particulate matter air pollution levels (PM2.5 and PM10) and significantly elevated NO2 and CO air pollutants, temperature, proportion ≤18 years, and male-to-female ratio. This cluster is significantly lower for income and ≥65 years. The other high-risk cluster, Cluster 10 (C10), is elevated significantly for ozone but significantly lower for other air pollutants. Covariates with elevated levels for C10 include proportion 65 years or older and a male-to-female ratio. Cluster 10 is significantly lower for income, temperature, per capita health facilities, ≤18 years, and population density. Our results suggest that joint built, natural, and socio-demographic factors influenced spatial inequalities of excess mortality in Lombardy in 2020. Studies must apply a multiple exposures framework to guide policy decisions addressing the complex and multi-dimensional nature of spatial inequalities of Covid-19-related mortality.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-eso-10.1177_23969873231189040 for What would other emergency stroke teams do? Using explainable machine learning to understand variation in thrombolysis practice by Kerry Pearn, Michael Allen, Anna Laws, Thomas Monks, Richard Everson and Martin James in European Stroke Journal

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-eso-10.1177_23969873231189040 for What would other emergency stroke teams do? Using explainable machine learning to understand variation in thrombolysis practice by Kerry Pearn, Michael Allen, Anna Laws, Thomas Monks, Richard Everson and Martin James in European Stroke Journal

This paper analyzes a UK polity that is characterized by fragmentation, differentiation, and decentered governance which is evident at multiple layers of public policy and administration. The development of devolved governments as well as ongoing debates around regional and local governance have created increasingly fragmented places. The intensification of policies associated with the new public management has fragmented the provision of public services. And the absence of a common approach to professional development has led to growing fragmentation of public service workers from different professions and sectors. We argue that these trends reflect many of the aspects of an advanced or late-stage new public governance. This is ripe territory for further research and demonstrates that UK public administration continues to have much to offer to international scholars. It also raises important questions about what forms of public administration might emerge next.

This article introduces the special issue on Rhetorical Approaches to Contemporary Political Studies. It underscores the importance of innovations in political speech as a key to the continuing attraction of scholars to rhetorical methods. This is particularly relevant at a moment of crisis and disruption in established democracies when the parameters of acceptable discourse have been brought into question by forms of ‘post-truth’ politics. Although controversial, such efforts affirm the value of rhetorical analysis as a mode of political enquiry. The article then sketches the arguments of the contributions to the issue.

Purpose To investigate whether upright magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a role in defining thoracolumbar spine pathology in elite gymnastics. Methods A prospective cross-sectional observational study of National Senior and Junior Artistic gymnasts in three MRI positions (standard supine, upright flexed and extended positions). Two specialist musculoskeletal radiologists independently analysed images with neutral as a baseline with the effects of flexion and extension reported in line with Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement. Results Forty (18 males) gymnasts aged 13–24 years with a mean (SD) of 32 (5.3) training hours per week consented with 75% showing MRI abnormalities. Degenerative disc disease (DDD) was evident in 55% participants with vertebral end plate (VEP) changes in 42.5%. Spondylolysis was present in 40% with an additional 17% showing chronic bilateral complete L5 pars defects. 23% participants demonstrated different MRI findings in upright flexion compared to neutral. Conclusion Findings suggest a high levels of MRI abnormalities in elite gymnastics including altered disc morphology and posterior element abnormalities. High prevalence of T11/12 DDD and VEP changes reflects the thoracolumbar junction being a transition zone. Upright MRI and varying spine position offer promise for enhanced visualisation of posterior element abnormalities.

Using a high-frequency (50 kHz-4 MHz) alternating current field measurement (ACFM)-style inspection, non-destructive imaging of carbon fibre-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) was performed for the detection and evaluation of flaws developed during their manufacture or in-service use. This was achieved using quantum well Hall-effect (QWHE) sensors, which have proven suitability for use in different non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) applications based on their high sensitivity (they require lower strength applied fields and can detect smaller perturbations in the magnetic field), high linearity (high contrast and imaging evaluation capabilities), wide dynamic range (making them less sensitive to offset and lift-off variations), wide frequency operating range (DC to MHz) and compact size (5-70 microns depending on the application). Their advanced III-V semiconductor materials and design enable these characteristics. Their low capacitance allows them to be operated at significantly higher frequencies than coils of comparable sensitivity or size. As such, the inherent advantages of QWHE sensors have been used in conjunction with a high-frequency ACFM-style magnetic imaging inspection technique, which is referred to as quantum well eddy current field measurement (QW-ECFM) in this paper. Here, the fundamentals of this new technique are outlined, as well as the outcomes of such a technique for evaluating CFRP materials, where individual fibre bundles have been resolved in high detail with high contrast. In addition, the ability to detect fibre misalignment has been shown, suggesting technique sensitivity to 3D orientations of fibre for better material qualification and the detection of delamination down to 2 mm in diameter. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an overview of this new QW-ECFM technique and summarise its performance for the detection and evaluation of various CFRP material flaws that are commonly found during manufacture and service.

Determining subsurface electromagnetic (EM) wave velocity is critical for ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data analysis, as velocity is used for the time-to-depth conversion, and hence leads to obtaining the precise location of the objects of interest. Currently, the way to acquire detailed subsurface EM wave velocity models involves employing multi-offset GPR surveys, such as wide-angle reflection-refraction (WARR), in conjunction with normal moveout (NMO) based velocity analysis. Traditionally, these surveys are carried out using two separate transducers and were, therefore, time-consuming and had limited uptake. Recent advances in GPR hardware have allowed the development of novel systems with multi-concurrent sampling receivers, which enable rapid and dense acquisition of WARR data. These additional receivers increase the overall size, weight and cost of the system. Therefore, we investigated the effects of receiver arrangement on NMO-based velocity analysis and considered reducing the overall number of transducers, whilst maintaining satisfactory velocity spectra resolution and, hence, obtaining detailed stacking velocity models as well as improved stacked reflection sections. We used both simulated data from complex three-dimensional models as well as field data and examined different numbers and positions of receivers in different environments. Our results show that velocity spectra resolution can be maintained within acceptable limits whilst reducing the number of receivers from a configuration with seven equally spaced receivers, to a sparse configuration of four receivers. Thus, being able to decrease the number of receivers used by these new GPR systems will reduce both the total system weight and cost and, hopefully, increase their adoption for GPR surveys.

At a time when the first wave of rock aristocracy had embraced the peace and love ethos of 1967 psychedelia, the Velvet Underground appeared to redefine the frameworks of ‘authenticity’ in rock. Sonically they achieved this through a blend of disparate and seemingly oppositional styles that to the outsider appeared to capture the essence of the drug-fuelled hedonism of Warhol’s Factory. Lyrically their celebration of drug abuse, sadomasochism and prostitution made the Beatles’ LSD experiments appear mainstream managed. Lou Reed’s explicit accounts of inner-city social decay offering a voyeuristic account of a life that would never be seen along ‘Penny Lane’. To the British rock fan, the Velvet Underground’s dystopian art-rock offered distant exotica that existed in a world that was out of reach to all but Warhol’s New York art elite in a city that appeared quite alien. It was outsider music from which its audience would always be excluded, forever outsiders. With almost non-existent critical response to the release of Velvet Underground and Nico in 1967 the only way to catch a glimpse of the Velvet’s world was through people with enough subcultural capital to be ‘in the know’ and in a powerful enough position to become a cultural intermediary. Enter David Bowie whose tastemaker role in publicising the Velvets was key to their early recognition. However, in becoming the messenger through the Velvet’s inspired ‘Queen Bitch’ from the Hunky Dory album, they became a part of Bowie’s story and more significantly his fetishization of New York as a mythological space. This same mythology would reach a critical mass with the C86 indie scene that defined itself through the fantasy New York.This chapter will explore Bowie’s role as cultural intermediary in the emergence of the Velvet Underground and how he shaped a mythological presence through his Ziggy Stardust creation

When a young Johnny Rotten walked into Malcolm McClaren’s Kings Road shop SEX wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words “I hate” scrawled above the band’s name a tension was created between punk and the generation of hippies before them. Pink Floyd and prog rock quickly became represented as punk’s natural enemy in the press, while young punk throughout the country quickly embraced an outward hatred of their older siblings’ record collections.Similarly punk was represented as the enemy of musicians everywhere, with prog rockers and their fans openly taking up arms (and cloaks) against these unskilled upstarts. And here started a battleground that would became central to the official histories of both prog and punk - the former would point to their foe as the reason for their demise, while the latter would present their enemies as being emblematic of everything they’d come to destroy.Except that was neither an accurate portrayal of the relationships between each scene and associated bands, nor was it an honest appraisal of the subcultural actors associated with these styles. In fact the battleground was less about simple opposition than the personal tensions caused by both the authenticating agents and processes associated with those authenticities. Official histories prefer the simplistic binaries of love/ hate, good/bad etc yet Pink Floyd’s relationship with punk would explore the tensions, revel in the supposed opposition and ‘zig-zag away, through the boredom and pain’.This chapter will explore the influence of Pink Floyd on punk through early tracks like ‘Interstellar Overdrive’; the influence of punk on Floyd as heard on Animals and the band’s associations with punk through politics, production and performance. Indeed, just as John Lydon would admit to his love of progressive rock after his departure from the Sex Pistols before embarking on the progressive punk Public Image Ltd, so too Pink Floyd would explore many of the same themes and concerns as those expressed in punk. At Pink Floyd’s Animals gigs in London’s Wembley Empire Pool it was noticeable just how many young punks were present. Enjoying a guilty pleasure before the laws of punk became enforced perhaps, but more likely the political dynamic of Floyd’s output actually found an uncomfortable, unlikely and in denial bedfellow in punk. Not for nothing did The Damned ask Nick Mason to produce their second album Music for Pleasure.