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Scholarly understanding of what "journalism" is has long been shaped by discourse on what "hard news" or political journalism entails. Less academic attention has been paid to perceived alternative forms of journalism, such as lifestyle journalism. This study aims to investigate how lifestyle journalists construct their professional identity in the context of a grand narrative of journalism that has been dominantly shaped by ideals related to politics, democracy, and the public sphere. Through 31 interviews with Singaporean lifestyle journalists, this study found that lifestyle journalists subscribe to both in-group and out-group discourses, where they simultaneously place themselves within but also outside the boundaries of journalism. However, the lifestyle journalists also articulate an alternative emerging discourse of a standalone-group, where lifestyle journalism should be seen as a profession completely divorced from normative understandings of journalism. This reflects lifestyle journalism's longstanding—yet perhaps untenable—liminal positioning on the periphery of journalism's boundaries and provides further support for understanding journalism as a discursively constructed profession that is constantly in flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by boundary work (Carlson, 2015; Carlson & Lewis, 2019), this study aims to better understand where lifestyle journalists situate digital lifestyle influencers within the field of lifestyle journalism, and what types of boundary-making strategies these journalists employ in reaction to such influencers. Through 37 interviews with lifestyle journalists from Singapore, the findings show that the journalists view the influencers as functional interlopers, and have an uneasy "frenemy" relationship with them. The interviewees engage in expansion, expulsion, and protection of autonomy boundary strategies (Carlson, 2015; Carlson & Lewis, 2019), but these are enacted at different times in response to different aspects of influencers. Overall, this study lends insight into how lifestyle journalists discursively construct the boundaries of their field against the incursion of digital lifestyle influencers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consequence of the digitisation of the media is the rapidly transforming business models of news organisations. While many studies have looked at how news journalists and newspapers deal with the changing relationship between editorial and commerce, less attention has been paid to how this relationship has evolved in lifestyle publications. This study examines the extent to which lifestyle journalists from women's magazines experience commercial pressures, how they handle such pressures, and how economic influences are reflected in the content they produce. Based on interviews with journalists from Singaporean women's magazines and supported by a textual analysis of the content of these magazines, the results show that commercial influences have increased drastically and have led to changes in the conceptualisation of professional identity and editorial outputs. These journalists are subject to overwhelming economic pressures that they find difficult to challenge, and thus frequently succumb to advertiser demands, leading to severe compromises on the integrity of their content. Furthermore, for younger journalists especially, there appears to be a sense of disillusionment caused by the mismatch between their journalistic expectations and the realities of their work. The findings from this study pose some serious implications on how we can understand journalism practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the relentless speed-driven nature of today's journalism industry, the notion of a decidedly slower type of journalism seems to be gaining traction amongst both industry practitioners and audiences. In direct contradiction to the 'breaking news' mentality that governs most modern newsrooms (Lewis and Cushion 2009), slow journalism calls for the purposeful slowing down of news production to create an alternative form of journalism that advocates for a higher quality and depth in content (Le Masurier 2015). This paper aims to add to the literature on slow journalism by analysing how a particular publication, the popular literary lifestyle magazine, Kinfolk, actively pursues, portrays, and presents the practice of slow journalism. Based on a textual analysis of the editor's letters from 30 issues of Kinfolk, this study found that the practice of slow journalism is manifested in the magazine through four ways: an emphasis on community, advocating for slowness in both production and consumption of content, and a niche editorial presentation. Findings from this study should help scholars to improve the theorising of the concept of slow journalism, and also help contribute to a better understanding of the larger changes happening in the journalism field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation of the ability of inverting Y370 mutants to accommodate more than a simple water molecule in the hole created by replacement of the tyrosine is presented. A total of 2628 individuals were screened for hydrolytic activity against 4-nitrophenyl 2-thio-beta-sialoside and 4-methylumbelliferyl beta-sialoside, but it was found that none of the mutants screened possessed a significant activity against either of the beta-sialosides.

Current literature examining journalism's boundary work has focused mostly on traditional, hard news journalism, while soft news journalism, such as lifestyle journalism, has largely been overlooked. Guided by the framework of boundary work, this paper examines how traditional fashion journalists and fashion bloggers define their own professionalism and what that says about the negotiation of fashion journalism's boundaries. Through a textual analysis of the 'About' pages of 40 mainstream fashion magazine websites and fashion blogs, this paper shows that fashion magazines and fashion blogs demonstrate differences in four areas: mode of presentation, rituals of asserting authority, organisational structure, and relationship with the audience. For each theme, fashion magazine websites and fashion blogs display different approaches that help to shape their professional identities. These four areas serve as markers of the emerging – and perhaps blurring – boundaries between the two media actors. Findings from this study have implications not just on boundary work in journalism, but also on the very definitions of journalist and journalism, and on the evolving digital cultural industry, particularly in relation to lifestyle-centred content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial and commercial functions in news organizations operate under conflicting values which dictate their separation lest commercial interests influence editorial decision-making. Yet this historic partition is challenged by the deterioration of the old advertiser-sponsored business model. The relationship is growing closer, at the risk of causing psychological discomfort to those involved. This study assesses what happens when senior editors encounter cognitive dissonance as they reconstruct the editorial-commercial relationship. It finds reluctance to embrace this evolving relationship, revealed in the fragmented and contradictory syntax editors use to talk about it as they are torn between the old (ethically driven) norm of how things should be, and the emerging (economically driven) norm of how things are. Yet, the paper suggests that cognitive dissonance may be the preferred state for any newsworker in an organization tasked with delivering news to a community which is not prepared to pay the full price for it, requiring some form of external subsidy. Rather than being dissonance that requires resolution, it becomes a vital, desirable tension whose perpetuation gives value to work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: to explore first-time fathers' experiences and needs during their wives' pregnancy and childbirth in Singapore. Design and setting: a descriptive qualitative was conducted. Participants were recruited from two obstetric wards in a tertiary hospital in Singapore from November to December 2012. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were used to collect data and themes from the interviews were generated using thematic analysis. Participants: a purposive sample of 16 first-time fathers aged above 21 years who accompanied their wives throughout pregnancy and childbirth were recruited from the postnatal wards between one to three days after the birth of their children. Findings: four themes emerged from 16 subthemes: (1) Emotional changes experienced; (2) Adaptive and supportive behaviours adopted; (3) Social support received and (4) Suggestions for improvement to the current maternity care. First-time fathers experienced a range of emotions from being happy and excited to feeling shocked and worried and to feeling calm. Adaptive and supportive behaviours were adopted to deal with the pregnancy changes and better support their wives. In the course of their transition to fatherhood, they also received support from their family, friends, workplaces and the health care professionals. Fathers suggested more information, timely, empathetic and professional care be given and a review to the current administrative/logistical policies. Conclusions: all fathers modified their behaviours for the sake of protecting their wives and unborn children. Support from their family, friends, workplaces and the health care professionals was invaluable and greatly appreciated. Implications for practice: health care professionals can guide and support fathers by providing them with more information and preparing them for the unknown changes. Future studies are needed to develop intervention programme for fathers to improve their experiences and adaptive behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We determined correlations between SARS-CoV-2 load in untreated water and COVID-19 cases and patient hospitalizations before the Omicron variant (September 2020-November 2021) at 2 wastewater treatment plants in the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario, Canada. Using pre-Omicron correlations, we estimated incident COVID-19 cases during Omicron outbreaks (November 2021-June 2022). The strongest correlation between wastewater SARS-CoV-2 load and COVID-19 cases occurred 1 day after sampling (r = 0.911). The strongest correlation between wastewater load and COVID-19 patient hospitalizations occurred 4 days after sampling (r = 0.819). At the peak of the Omicron BA.2 outbreak in April 2022, reported COVID-19 cases were underestimated 19-fold because of changes in clinical testing. Wastewater data provided information for local decision-making and are a useful component of COVID-19 surveillance systems.

Objective: To investigate the effect of the secretory proteins of the ventral prostate on the glycoproteins in the oviductal fluid of golden hamsters., Methods: Male golden hamsters were divided into four groups: sham operation (SH), total removal of accessory sex glands (TX), and retainment of the ventral prostate only (VP). Oviductal fluid was collected from female hamsters at 0.5, 2, 4 and 6 h after mating with the males of different operated groups with or without ventral prostate. Glycoproteins were probed with a panel of lectins and their changes in the oviductal fluid were analyzed by Western blot., Results: The 47 000, 52 000, 81 000 and 128 000 WGA-binding proteins were observed in the oviductal fluid of the 6 h TX group, the 32 000, 35 500, 47 000 and 52 000 WGA-binding glycoproteins noted in the 6 h VP group, the 47 000, 68 000, 95 000 and 128 000 pisum sativum agglutinin (PSA)-binding glycoproteins shown in the 6 h TX and VP groups, two extra 32 000 and 37 500 bands detected in the 6 h VP group, the 47 000 and 52 000 dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA)-binding glycoproteins present in the 6 h VP but absent in the 6 h TX group., Conclusion: Ventral prostate secretory proteins affect acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine/galactose and mannose in the oviductal fluid collected 6 hours after mating. And these glycoproteins may play an important role in the development of embryos.

Objective: To investigate the binding of secretory proteins in the ventral prostate to the surface of sperm., Methods: We used different techniques to demonstrate the possibility of ventral prostate secretory proteins binding to sperm in golden hamsters. Polyclonal antibodies against crude secretion of the ventral prostate cultured in rabbits were used to detect the antigens in hamster epididymal, uterine and oviductal spermatozoa by indirect immunofluorescence technique. The uterine and oviductal spermatozoa were collected after mating with the males with or without ventral prostate glands. The ventral prostate secretory proteins were isolated and transblotted to the membrane, which was incubated with the biotinylated epididymal sperm membrane proteins, and then the biotinylated binding proteins were stained., Results: An immunoreaction restricted to the middle piece was observed in the sperm incubated with the ventral prostate secretion and ejaculated sperm recovered from the uteri and oviducts. The rate of the epididymal sperm bound with the ventral prostate secretory proteins was (80 +/- 5) %, and the rats of the sperm binding to the ventral prostate secretory proteins were (30.0 +/- 4.6) % from the uterus and (16.0 +/- 3.6) % from the oviduct after mating with the males with ventral prostate glands, significantly higher than after mating with those without prostate glands (P < 0.01). Five bands were identified by Western blot analysis in vitro of the ventral prostate secretory proteins incubated with biotinylated epididymal sperm membrane proteins., Conclusion: The present data indicate that ventral prostate secretory proteins bind to the middle piece of sperm in golden hamsters.