Anaïs Pettecrew, Cheadle Hulme High School
A Painful Uncertainty: To What Extent is Pain Real? Introduction
Findings
Conclusions
Almost all of us will have experienced pain multiple times in our life. However, some experience pain more than most, and some have never experienced pain at all! So, what causes this variation in pain? Is medication the most effective form of pain relief? And is it possible to influence our own perception/experience of pain?
There are 3 types of pain: nociceptive, inflammatory and pathological. Nociceptive pain protects you from injury [3]. For example, if you touch a hot stove, nociceptive receptors in the skin relay the message to the CNS which in turn sends signals down motor neurones to tell you to move your hand away (reflex response). A lot of uncertainty still lies around how nociceptive pain can be influenced. Therefore, I decided to focus my research into this area.
This topic reminded me of a phrase my Grandma and her colleagues shared as nurses: "pain is what the patient says it is". My research demonstrated that this is still the case. Pain is highly subjective, and medication is not always the answer. I hope we will one day have answers to the questions I proposed in my introduction but, for now, the intricacies of pain remain largely uncertain.
Why this is an important topic A better understanding of pain could help to treat and explain conditions, such as: •
•
•
Congenital analgesia • A mutation which causes the individual to be unable to experience pain [1] Chronic pain • Affects between one third and one half of the UK population (Fayaz et al. 2016) [2] CRPS-2 • Sufferers experience excruciating pain even after the initial injury has healed [1]
For example, scientists have used biofeedback. Participants were shown a flame that represented the neural activity in their anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) which is involved in pain perception. After multiple training sessions, these patients with chronic pain were able to control and reduce the size of the flame and consequently lower their pain. They reported a 64% decrease in MPQ pain rating (assesses pain quality and intensity) and a 44% decrease in VAS pain rating (assesses pain intensity) [4]. This research is a promising start to discovering more about the benefits of non-medicinal pain relief. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding factors that can influence this nociceptive pain. One study which aims to demystify this area, investigated the effect of a sensory stimulus (smell) on pain unpleasantness. This study used odours to alter mood and found an induced negative mood led to increased pain evoked activation in the ACC. The figure on the right shows their results when a bad odour (BO) and a good odour (GO) was used [5]. The activation in the ACC during the BO, may explain why participants experienced increased pain unpleasantness when exposed to the bad odour.
Bibliography [1] Ramachandran, V. (2012). The Tell-Tale Brain. Windmill Books [2] Fayaz A, Croft P, Langford RM, Donaldson LJ, Jones GT. (2016) Prevalence of chronic pain in the UK: a systematic review and meta-analysis of population studies. BMJ Open 2016;6:e010364. Available from doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010364 [3] Woolf, C. (2010) What is this thing called pain?. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 120(11), 3742-3744. Available from doi:10.1172/JCI45178 [4] DeCharms, R.C., Maeda, F., Glover, G.H., Ludlow, D., Pauly, J.M., Soneji, D., Gabrieli, J.D. and Mackey, S.C. (2005) Control over brain activation and pain learned by using real-time functional MRI. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(51), 18626-18631. Available from doi:10.1073pnas.0505210102 [5] Villemure, C., Bushnell, M.C. (2009) Mood influences supraspinal pain processing separately from attention. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(3), 705-715. Available from doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3822-08.2009
Amy French, Lymm High School
DOES THE CHANGING NATURE OF OUR SOCIETIES MORALS MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO CREATE A STABLE LEGAL SYSTEM? Introduction
Findings
Conclusions
Society’s collective moral system avoids clear definition. Many people do not share coherent beliefs and they certainly don’t fall within a structured, linear, process. Uncertainty in the reliability of society’s moral judgement has particularly damaging consequences in the context of the legal system. Often perceived as the fundamental institution of law and order, incorporating subjectivity undermines its entire authority and risks failure to perform its primary duty of upholding justice. Given this danger, does the turbulent nature of society’s morals allow the concept of a stable legal system to be achieved?
In The Concept of Law (1961), H.L.A Hart outlines a distinction in primary and secondary legal rules, the primary rules to determine conduct and the secondary rules to establish the procedural methods that act to enforce the primary rules. In doing so, Hart is acknowledging what I’d consider to be a key component. Where it’s clear we must have guidelines for our behaviors themselves, having a rational, rule-based system to enforce recognition of the primary rules is fundamentally what gives them authority. In other words, the distinction between finding an action morally abhorrent and requiring formalized accountability, not on an individual, but societal level, shows limitation to the extent to which the law itself should make our society’s value judgements, but rather act as an optimally structured system, that provides coherent guidelines to systematically judge ethical value.
To understand the relationship between morality and the legal system, it’s first essential to distinguish their roles, the law as the provider of permanent structure and morality as inconsistent and causing a desire to be universally upheld.
Why this is an important topic A functioning system of law is paramount for any harmonious society. It’s constantly observed that throughout all of history, including currently, major shifts in conscience regularly occur. Development like this creates major fear in the strength of the law as our standards today may not uphold in the future, and so are also failed reasoning currently. In Language, Truth and Logic (1936), A.J. Ayer proposed the theory of Emotivism, whereby we’re unable to know objective moral facts, rather moral decision making simply reflects our feelings, diminishing a scale of value associated with moral actions. I believe this conclusion alone is wholly unsatisfying. Trying to apply morality, as defined by Emotivism, to the law leads to the absence of trust in its standardised authority and leads to an internal collapse of the entire system, now deemed just an emotional expression. I aim to explore how the contemporary legal system can coherently maintain it’s authority, without morality undermining its integral requirement of objectivity.
Upon recognizing this distinction and giving the legal system the role as a continuous template to uphold a standard, it’s then integral to reconsider morality’s function. In Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue (1981), he draws a distinction between ‘internal goods,’ being those that can only be achieved participating within a system, and ’external goods,’ which are judged in relation to how its entire purpose affects our broader unity. Therefore, it can be said that a community is internally good at upholding its moral standards, however, as an external good these standards can be considered unvirtuous. Relating this to morality and the law, it appears Emotivism gives a logical description of our internal, subjectively-determined, impression of morality, where as, the law is an externalised description of our collective, non-subjective, ethical code. This means that morality, the internal system, can at one time appear harmonious amongst society itself, yet from another perspective, perhaps in the future, the overall conduct of that society is considered immoral. The implication of this notion is that from within the internal system we perceive the standards we’re upholding as ethical and lack the necessary external perspective to adjust this. However, the somewhat external system we can aim to uphold is that brought by the underlying guidance of the law. Consequently, the relativity of morals doesn’t diminish the ability of a society to function under the law, rather it tries to imitate objectivity and flexibility in order to mitigate the instability caused by the changing nature of morality. In The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940), Ayer himself did not correlate Emotivism with undermining decisiveness, rather he designated it as this assured reality being only to the individual themselves and when it comes to truths directly acquired through experience. Morality is again inevitably turbulent and requiring external rationalization when being considered on a societal level.
Emotivism provides a robust account of why societies morals shift over time. However, this is undesirable as it provokes a state of impermanence. Further research is required into the extent to which this underlying instability causes distrust in the law as a concept itself and if it could maintain the required objectivity long-term. Overall, the law should be indifferent to our society’s judgements and norms, instead, it should provide a fair decision-making mechanism. The law should be more concerned with structure over content – this will allow the law to remain fluid over time, whilst also permanent enough to give us a sense of stability.
Bibliography - Ayer, A. J. (1936). Language, Truth and Logic. 1st ed. Ryerson Press. - Ayer, A.J. (1940). The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge. 1st ed. London: The Macmillan Company. - Hart, H. L. A. (1961). The Concept of Law. 1st ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. - MacIntyre, A.C. (1981). After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. 3rd ed. University of Notre Dame Press.
Uncertainty in the access to mental health services for people of the deaf community - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - AMY WARREN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kings of Wessex Academy
INTRODUCTION We are living through the peak of mental health; a time where research, resources and treatment are all expanding to accommodate its rise. Also living in a time of equality and increased inclusion for all, how can we be sure that everyone gains access to the same levels of support? Where does the uncertainty lie for people of the deaf community in a sector heavily dependent on ‘talk’ based therapy and what future changes may need to happen?
FINDINGS A study found that more than half of deaf people couldn’t find mental health services that they could use due to the barriers faced in communication.
CONCLUSIONS
Currently deaf (and hard of hearing) people are struggling to access mental health services due to a lack of translation resources and knowledge of how mental health can be displayed in deaf people
Most mental health practitioners are not experienced with sign language and the deaf community so rely on written and read communication and lip-reading; none of which are sufficient with traditional therapy and diagnostic techniques
To adequately support the deaf community,practitioners must be taught more about deaf mental health, seek second opinions or assistance from interpreters where felt necessary and hard of hearing people must be encouraged into this field of work (much like the women in STEM movement).
TOPIC IMPORTANCE Struggles to function in a hearing world is a large contributor to mental health problems for hearing - impaired individuals, automatically making deaf (or partially deaf) people at greater risk of developing some form of mental health condition
Between 15 and 26% of people have some hearing loss and 0.07% are profoundly deaf
Up to 50% of deaf people said they believed communication problems contributed to suicidal depression or substance abuse
1/4 of deaf students have learning difficulties,developmental delay or autism
Bullying and sexual assault is more common towards deaf people
There is therefore a great demand for mental support and therapy in the deaf community
Currently a lot of mental health support is speech-based, inadequate for many
Members of the deaf community are frequently underdiagnosed or unable to use the support available to them, largely as a result of some prevalent difficulties: Lack of experienced interpreters between spoken English and sign language Problems in translation between the languages Differences in how deaf people display feelings and perceive mental health Solutions considered for this often include written and read communication or lip-reading. However, this isn’t necessarily suitable as hearing loss interferes with vocabulary and so many people read and write at a level lower than expected. As for lipreading, the average deaf adult can only accurately lip-read 2640% of speech. Additionally, common diagnostic questions become harder to communicate with deaf people, such as ‘have you been hearing voices?’. To help overcome these problems it’s imperative that mental health practitioners are taught how to recognise differences in how deaf people display emotions (by adding this into compulsory education for relevant careers), encourage hard of hearing people and interpreters into this field of work, and ensure that clinicians who have little experience with deaf people seek second opinions for diagnosis.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 Steinberg AG, Sullivan VJ, Loew RC. Cultural and Linguistic Barriers to Mental Health Service Access: The Deaf Consumer's Perspective. Am J Psychiatry. 1998;155(7):982-984. doi:10.1176/ajp.155.7.982 2 Black PA, Glickman NS. Demographics, Psychiatric Diagnoses, and Other Characteristics of North American Deaf and Hard-ofHearing Inpatients. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2006;11(3):303-321. doi:10.1093/deafed/enj042 3 National Center for Special Education Research. Special Education Research and Development Center on Reading Instruction for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. Published 2012.
Poster by Cholwe Lupikisha
World overpopulation – Should we worry now? Introduction
Findings:
Human overpopulation is when the human population becomes too large to be sustained in its current environment in the long term. This concept has the potential to lead to both short and longterm effects which can impact countries detrimentally.
Conclusions:
Why is it important? The population at the moment is increasing by 1.2%, meaning that the current population of 7 billion is expected to double in less than 60 years[1]. The type of effects that younger generations experience include: • Malnourishment- 66% of the population currently experiences this.[1] • Resource shortages- decline of oil production that is set to occur in the next 30-40 years.[1] • Food conservation is set to cease very soon. These issues need to be addressed so that humanity can begin to not only conserve resources but to also find a solution for these projected issues.
Figure 1: The UN’s projection on population growth, from 1700 to 2100.[6] The UN’s current projections of population growth shows that the population will increase by 2 billion, causing to reach 9.7 billion from its current 7.7 billion by 2050[3]. Figure 1 illustrates this by showing that in the year 2050, the population of the planet is projected to be 9.7 billion. However, this projection can be seen as unrealistic due to demands from our current population putting stress on our biological systems: Fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands. Our current per capital consumption exceeds our long-term carrying capacity which means that within a certain time frame we could have food shortages due to our food supplies depleting. A worldwide food shortage can have a significant impact on a population by causing serious effects such as famine, under nutrition and social behavioural changes. An example of a population that experienced the effects of food shortages on a small scale is the population of Kenya. The cause of Kenya’s food shortage was due to overpricing food. This caused a decrease in children’s energy intake, weight and it made them less social as well as less willing to learn [4]. Despite that this was only at a local scale, this case illustrates that if a worldwide food shortage does occur in today’s modern world, serious social issues will become apparent across the globe. On the other hand, some believe that overpopulation is not possible due to our current technological development. Erle C. Ellis, a associate professor of Geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland, believes that we can extend our planet’s human carrying capacity by increasing land productivity through the use of existing technologies so that our global supplies will not be depleted [5].
In conclusion, according to the data collected, world overpopulation is a serious issue that needs addressing. If we do not act now, we will eventually experience its effects by 2050 once the projected total population of 9.7 billion is reached and we exceed our long term carrying capacity. Furthermore, overpopulation can cause an increase in food shortages which may lead to famine as well as social unrest. However, there are proposed solutions to prevent these effects from occurring such as using our current technologies to increase land productivity. Therefore, we may be able to sustain the population for future generations. Bibliography [1] Pimentel, D., 2012. World overpopulation. [2] Brown, L. R. (1978). Twenty-ninth day: accommodating human needs and numbers to the Earth's resources.[ecological impacts of overpopulation]. [3]United Nations,U.N 2019. Growing at a slower pace, world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and could peak at nearly 11 billion around 2100 [4] Mary Alice McDonald and Marian Sigman and Michael P. Espinosa and Charlotte G. Neumann. 1994, Impact of a Temporary Food Shortage on Children and Their Mothers [5] Ellis, E.C., 2013. Overpopulation is not the problem. New York Times, 13, p.A19. [6] Max Roser , M.R, 2013 - "Future Population Growth". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/future-population-growth' [Online Resource]
Joseph Cartwright
UNCERTAINTY IN EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH: WHY DO SOME BELIEVE IN AN AFTERLIFE? The idea of an afterlife has existed alongside most belief systems, whether this be a place beyond physical existence or reincarnation. A survey carried out by the Institute of Education at the university of London found that 49% believed in some form of afterlife whilst only 31% believe in a god [1]. So why have so many chosen to believe in this, even without physical evidence?
This topic is important because it forms an essential building block for understanding religion and most human civilisations. As a topic often disregarded by science, yet so vital in understanding humanity, research into this area is indispensable. The idea of an afterlife has existed for so long, so to occlude serious discussion because it doesn’t fall into a scientific scope is wrong. Alleviating uncertainty will aid: •
• •
Understanding of civilisations such as the ancient Egyptians (where society was heavily influenced by a belief in an afterlife) Understanding the reasons behind most people’s morality Correspondence between science and religion as to not nullify each other
As beings with a fleeting life on earth, the appeal of a continued existence is obvious and reasons for belief vary amongst believers. Some explanations: One explanation is that it acts as an answer for our own morality. Many religions attribute morals to a divine authority (God) and furthermore that access to a positive afterlife is only accessible through following of these morals. Highly respected theologian, Thomas Aquinas, believed that God was one of three key reasons for the existence of morals and that these were determinants of the quality of afterlife. “Moral goodness is what gives each of us the sense that we are worthy human beings”- Steven Pinker [2]. Many, understandably, believe that we exist after death to give reason to actions on earth during life. Another chain of reasoning for believing in an afterlife is the ideas of dualism and emergentist processes when applied to the continuation of the human soul/ consciousness. This idea explains that human consciousness comes to be because of the process of Figure 1: a simple nonphysical the physical body; it emerges as a result of the physical system. From physical existence something electromagnetic field produced with a looped non-physical is produced, William Hasker gives the wire and current. excellent analogy of an electromagnetic field [3]. Electromagnetic fields are produced through a physical construction of wire and metal with a current flowing through the wire, then emerges a nonphysical field. This can be applied with the afterlife as magnetic fields continue to exist even without the current flowing, so the process stops but the emergent still exists. This also applied with the idea of dualism-that mind and body are separate- and could give reason that a nonphysical existence continues past physical destruction. “If, however, we are nonphysical (or immaterial) minds or souls or persons who are embodied, then even the complete annihilation of our physical bodies does not entail our annihilation as persons”- William Hasker [4].
An afterlife may seem farfetched, however that does not mean that belief should be dismissed. Using both emotive reasoning to explain why people choose/ want to believe and then logical chains of philosophical reasoning to show how it may exist, the possibility of an afterlife should not be understated. This is not to say that it is a definite, there are plenty of arguments that prove the contrary. The main conclusion of this poster is not that you should or shouldn’t believe but that you should remain open to ideas, this is to ensure future progress and human development.
[1] Sulivan, A., Voas, D., Brown, M. (2012) “The art of asking questions about religion”, The Institute of Education at the university of London. [accessed 27th June 2021]. [2] Pinker, S. (2008) “The moral instinct”, The New York Times Magazine (2008). P.34. [accessed 4th July 2021]. [3] Hasker, W (2013) “William Hasker: Life after death”, Biola University. [accessed 8th August 2021]. [4] Hasker, W., Charles T. "Afterlife", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2019 Edition). [accessed 10th August 2021].
Does melanin allow fungi to use radiation as an energy source? The Uncertainty Regarding Radiosynthesis By Daniel Espiritu, Worcester Sixth Form College
Introduction Melanin is a pigment found in many fungal species and across all kingdoms of life [4], capable of absorbing the visible to UV section of the electromagnetic spectrum [1]. Ionising radiation is harmful to life, causing damage to DNA and other biomolecules [1]. However, does melanin allow fungi to perform radiosynthesis (the process of using metabolic energy from radiation)?
Why This Is Important The discovery of radiotrophic fungi has several implications: • Estimations regarding planetary energy flows may be affected due to the prevalence of melanotic fungi in the biosphere [2]. • Radiotrophic fungi may allow for survival in extra-terrestrial conditions [2]. • The occurrence of melanin in all kingdoms of life may change our current theories regarding the evolution of life – could radiosynthesis precede photosynthesis [2]? Findings Fungi have been found to inhabit areas with high radiation exposure, including Chernobyl Power Plant and the Poles [3]. At Chernobyl, fungi were found to be growing inside the nuclear reactor, attracted to sources of radiation [3]. This has been called “radiotropism” [3], and was the first major piece of evidence for radiosynthesis. Most fungi, melanised or not, can endure doses of up to 1.7 x 104 Gray (Gy), while high altitude regions only experience 0.05 – 1.00 Gy per year, so it is unlikely that melanin is produced by fungi for photoprotection [4]. Experiments were performed on the melanised fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. A non-melanised mutant strain and a wildtype melanised strain were exposed to gamma radiation and given limited nutrients. Growth was compared between irradiated and non-irradiated cells. Melanised forms showed a 2.5-fold increase in CFUs in irradiated cells than non-irradiated cells, while non-melanised forms only showed 1.1 times more CFUs in irradiated cells than non-irradiated cells [4]. This shows that the presence of melanin may increase rate of growth during irradiation. Sample
Initial rate of reaction (nmol per min)
Untreated melanin
30
Irradiation for 20 minutes
80
Irradiation for 40 minutes
120
Figure 1: Table showing initial rates of the redox reaction between NADH and ferricyanide for different melanin treatments. Data used from [4]
References [1] - Cordero, R. J., & Casadevall, A. (2017). Functions of fungal melanin beyond virulence. Fungal biology reviews, 31(2), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbr.2016.12.003 [2] - Casadevall, A., Cordero, R., Bryan, R., Nosanchuk, J., & Dadachova, E. (2017). Melanin, Radiation, and Energy Transduction in Fungi. Microbiology spectrum, 5(2), 10.1128/microbiolspec.FUNK-0037-2016. https://doi.org/10.1128/microbiolspec.FUNK-0037-2016 [3] - Dadachova, E., & Casadevall, A. (2008). Ionizing radiation: how fungi cope, adapt, and exploit with the help of melanin. Current opinion in microbiology, 11(6), 525–531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2008.09.013 [4] - Dadachova, E., Bryan, R. A., Huang, X., Moadel, T., Schweitzer, A. D., Aisen, P., Nosanchuk, J. D., & Casadevall, A. (2007). Ionizing radiation changes the electronic properties of melanin and enhances the growth of melanized fungi. PloS one, 2(5), e457. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000457
Findings, continued Melanin was isolated from C. neoformans before being irradiated. Then, it was added to a reaction mixture containing NADH and ferricyanide, where NADH is oxidised, ferricyanide is reduced and melanin acts as an agent for electron transfer. Compared to untreated melanin, an almost 3-fold increase in reaction rate was observed for irradiation for 20 minutes and a 4-fold increase for irradiation for 40 minutes [4]. Although this shows the potential role melanin can play in radiosynthesis, it does not mean that this is what happens in vivo. The mechanism behind this radiosynthesis has not yet been discovered. Electron spin resonance (ESR) of melanin indicates that there is a free radical population present within its structure which changes after being exposed to radiation [4]. It has not yet been identified whether radiosynthesis is autotrophic or only heterotrophic. There is some evidence to support the former, as previous scientific records suggest that fungi can fix CO 2 during starvation [4]. Melanised fungi are facultative with respect to radiosynthesis, not obligate, further hindering scientific investigation.
a
b
Figure 2: a) ESR signal of melanin before irradiation. b) ESR signal of melanin after irradiation. Graphs used from [4] Conclusion The truth behind radiosynthesis in fungi still remains a mystery. This resource has presented some of the evidence that suggests that melanin may allow this to occur, from the discovery of radiotropism to analyses on the chemical and macroscopic levels. However, to form a truly convincing case for radiosynthesis and alter our understanding of bioenergetics, the fine mechanistic details must be outlined. Further scientific investigation is necessary – for now, the concept of radiosynthesis and the role of melanin remains uncertain.
QUASICRYSTALS:
Eve Capewell Redcliffe Sixth Form
TO WHAT EXTENT CAN THEIR FRACTAL STRUCTURE BE USED TO PREDICT PROPERTIES? Introduction
Findings
A quasicrystal is a solid material with an ordered but aperiodic structure. It can continuously fill all available space, but lacks translational symmetry. Quasicrystals have a fractal geometry, meaning they are scale-invariant and self-similar. This gives them unique electronic, optical, and mechanical properties. (Sanjukta Mondal, 2021)
Fractal structure of quasicrystal
•
•
Figure 1. A Penrose tiling demonstrates an ordered yet aperiodic structure. (Lisa Grossman, 2014)
Figure 2. Electron diffraction pattern of an icosahedral quasicrystal. The size of the pentagons drawn follow the golden ratio. (Sanjukta Mondal, 2021)
•
•
Creates: Irrational spacings between atoms Extended chemical bonding network (P. Archambault and C. Janot, 1997)
Results in: Superlubricity Low thermal conductivity (P. Archambault and C. Janot, 1997)
Conclusions Electronic states in quasicrystalline solids have a fractal structure.
Creates: Competition between the broken translational invariance and selfsimilarity of the quasiperiodic structure. (Kamiya K. et al., 2018)
Results in: • Emergence of critical eigenstates • Participation of almost all mobile electrons in superconductivity (Kamiya K. et al., 2018)
Quasicrystals have aperiodic lattices with a strict ordering.
Creates: The possibility to localise light within the quasicrystal structure, neither transmitting nor extinguishing the wave. (ITMO University, 2020)
Results in: A 3D polymer quasicrystal being able to retain the light wave for some time. (ITMO University, 2020)
Why this is an important topic •
•
•
While the first quasicrystal (an Al-Mg alloy) was found in 1982, new structures and properties are still being discovered. Quasicrystals are already commonly used in surgical instruments, LED lights, and more (Jenny Marder, 2011). Existence of quasicrystalline structures in materials other than metal has significantly increased their potential applications. If their fractal structure can be used to predict properties, the discovery of new applications could be accelerated.
Produces: A combination of properties of a metal and a polymer such as Teflon.
This means quasicrystals are insulating with low friction and high corrosion resistance. They can be used in non-stick coating.
Produces: • Emergence of bulk superconductivity in Al-Zn-Mg quasicrystal • Evidence of fractal superconductivity (Kamiya K. et al., 2018)
Uses of superconductors range from MRI scanners to maglev trains.
Suitable polymer quasicrystals can be produced using 3D nano-printing. (ITMO University, 2020)
These could be used to manipulate light in photonic devices. E.g. optical cloaking, laser and sensor design. (ITMO University, 2020)
As shown, the fractal structure of quasicrystals can produce unexpected properties. This connection is often found after the property has been discovered. The underlying mathematical order of quasicrystalline structures gives the impression that logical steps could be taken to predict further properties. Continual discovery of new properties, often contrary to that of their constituent elements, suggests that only a small extent of their true potential can be accurately predicted. Only a few examples have been looked at here. Further research could investigate successful predictions, or how the fractal structure is formed. The real implications of the discovery of quasicrystals may still lie in future research.
Bibliography Lisa Grossman. (2014) Quasicrystal quest: The unreal rock that nature made. Available from: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329860-300quasicrystal-quest-the-unreal-rock-that-nature-made/ [Accessed 10th August 2021]. ITMO University (2020) Scientists capture light in a polymeric quasicrystal. Available from: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-scientists-capture-polymericquasicrystal.html [Accessed 10th August 2021]. K. Kamiya, T. Takeuchi, N. Kabeya, N. Wada, T. Ishimasa, A. Ochiai, K. Deguchi, K. Imura & N. K. Sato. (2018) Discovery of superconductivity in quasicrystal. Nat Commun 9, 154. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-01702667-x Jenny Marder (2011) What are Quasicrystals, and What Makes Them NobelWorthy? Available from: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/quasicrystals -win-chemistry-nobel [Accessed 10th August 2021]. Sanjukta Mondal (2021) Quasicrystal: How Did It Go From Impossible To Earning A Nobel Prize? Available from: https://www.scienceabc.com/puresciences/quasicrystal-how-did-it-go-from-impossible-to-earning-a-nobelprize.html [Accessed 10th August 2021]. Archambault, P., & Janot, C. (1997) Thermal Conductivity of Quasicrystals and Associated Processes. MRS Bulletin, 22(11), 48-53. Available from: https:// doi.org/10.1557/S0883769400034436
Colette Foster
Assess how uncertainty in geopolitics affected the lives of East German and British citizens during the Cold War Conclusions
Introduction
Findings
Stability in geopolitics during the Cold War was hoped to be achieved through Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). This theory dictated that each side could unleash overwhelming devastation on the other and thus they would refrain from attacking, leading to the certainty that nuclear war would not break out. Indeed, the Cold War is described as “a period of political hostility between capitalist and Communist countries, in particular between the USA and the USSR,” (Williamson, 2015, p.1) who “devoted huge resources to developing weapons they hoped never to use” (Isaacs and Downing, 2010, p.259). However, ordinary citizens felt that nuclear weapons provided uncertainty in geopolitics (due to events like the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis) and the threat of nuclear war infiltrated their daily lives.
Uncertainty in geopolitics due to the focus on nuclear weapons created a feeling of helplessness, frustration and the sense that nuclear war was inevitable, despite MAD. This was informed by the type and quantity of physical goods available and the media. East Germany Britain
Why this is an important topic This is an important topic as it investigates the lesserknown side of history. So often students are taught the overall politics in the abstract with little consideration as to how the people of the time lived with the events, which is just as important. This topic also allows us to apply these findings to current geopolitics by learning from history to encourage empathy with citizens around the world. The two countries studied and a citizen from each of them can be representative of the Eastern and Western blocs: • East Germany- part of the USSR’s “exclusive sphere of influence” (McMahon, 2003, p.26). Heidi Brauer was interviewed by Rob Olver in 2019 about her experiences living in East Germany. • Britain- an ally of the USA’s but lacking the resources to be a key player in Cold War geopolitics. Mike Gant (my maternal grandfather, born in 1946) was interviewed by myself in 2021, about his experiences living in Britain. The interviews have been used as they are primary sources and in the case of Mike Gant, I was able to ask specific, relevant questions. These personal stories have been connected with the geopolitical events that occurred, so the effect of uncertainty on citizens’ lives can be assessed.
Physical goods
By the 1960s, the USSR was spending 20% of its annual budget on defence (BBC Bitesize, n.d.) so there was a lack of common goods: •
• •
Due to Britain’s alliance with the USA, many American soldiers were stationed in makeshift towns in the South East of Britain where they prepared for nuclear war, and their presence influenced the locals.
Food was restricted- in winter, citizens could only Mike Gant (2021) recalls that on a tour of one of the makeshift buy 1kg of bananas or oranges towns as a boy, the main thing he noticed was food that he had Clothes were limited never experienced before, such as hot dogs and Coca Cola. Citizens had to wait 10-12 years to purchase a basic car (Brauer, 2019)
Media
Media was restricted so citizens had little awareness As the media had more freedom, citizens were aware of worldwide of worldwide events. events mainly due to newspapers, which described the uncertainty of the wider geopolitical climate (figure 1). Some citizens, including Heidi Brauer, broke the law by watching West German television and Despite the free press, the docudrama ‘The War Game’ (1966), listening to the British Forces Radio Service, a radio which imagined what would happen if the bomb fell with terrifying station broadcasting in West Berlin. Therefore, East images, was pulled from the schedule by the BBC, saying it was “too German citizens were consuming similar news to horrifying for the medium of broadcasting” (Sandbrook, 2013). The people in Britain, despite living in a Communist student union at Mike Gant’s university managed to obtain the state. docudrama to show it, and it prompted him and many fellow students to support ‘Ban the Bomb’.
The general feeling of citizens at a time when geopolitics was made very uncertain with shocking events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis or the construction of the Berlin Wall is the key element to examine when investigating people’s lives.
Physical goods: Uncertainty in geopolitics influenced what goods were (or were not) available, all derived from the Soviet and American focus on nuclear weapons. Media: The media influenced citizens’ perceptions of world events, whether that be in Britain, where the media had freedom to publish what they wanted, or East Germany, where the media was strictly controlled to promote Communism. So much so that some East German citizens would turn to western media to learn about ‘what was really happening’. This topic is important because of its current relevance- it argues that history in schools today should not be taught in the abstract. Links in study between geopolitics and social studies should be encouraged. It should also make world leaders seriously consider the lives and the livelihoods that are at stake when making important decisions; politics isn’t a game.
Bibliography BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). Détente and the economic cost of the arms race Managing the Cold War 1962-85. [online] Available at: https:// www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z9jpn39/revision/3 [Accessed 11 Apr. 2021]. Brauer, H. (2019). Interviewed by: Olver, R. What was it like living in Cold War East Germany? [online] Forces Online. 8 Nov. Available at: https:// www.forces.net/news/what-was-it-living-cold-war-east-germany [Accessed 11 Apr. 2021].
Heidi Brauer described how she felt trapped due to restrictions on religion and post in East Germany (letters she sent to her father in West Germany were never received). The main turning point for her was when she was prohibited from continuing her education due to political reasons- “That was the first time I noticed I don't want to live in this state. I don't call it my homeland,” (Brauer, 2019). Mike Gant, who was 16 at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, recalled how, “it’s one of those events when you remember where you were at the time. It was very, very worrying.” Due to the perceived inevitable outbreak of nuclear war, some people felt no need to plan or save money, proving that MAD didn’t reassure everyone. A peak of uncertainty in geopolitics was in the 1980s, when US president Reagan announced his Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), a far-fetched idea that made it seem like America could win a nuclear war, which broke down all pretence of MAD (Williamson, 2015). When Reagan announced his SDI programme, “it felt like we were going back. As a teenager, we used to say ‘Where will you be when the bomb drops?’ And with SDI, we were going back to that,” (Gant, 2021).
Uncertainty in geopolitics affected people’s lives on the surface and emotionally. Despite the aim that MAD would bring certainty, it did not- or rather, citizens felt that due to the following factors, it brought the certainty that nuclear war would happen.
Gant, M. (2021). Interviewed by: Foster, C. Cold War memories. 30 Aug. Isaacs, J. and Downing, T. (2010). Cold War. London Abacus, p.259. McMahon, R.J. (2003). The Cold War : A Very Short Introduction. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, p.26. Sandbrook, D. (2013). The Cold War in your living room. [online] HistoryExtra. Available at: https://www.historyextra.com/period/cold-war/the-cold-war-inyour-living-room/ [Accessed Mar. 2021]. The Guardian (1962). The Cuban crisis. The Guardian, 27 Oct., p.3. Williamson, D.G. (2015). The Cold War 1941-95. Hodder Education Publishers, pp.1, 117, 186.
Figure 1. A national newspaper describes the ‘madness’ of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when uncertainty in geopolitics peaked. The USSR placed nuclear warheads on Cuba, seemingly to be near to the USA to launch a nuclear attack, disproving MAD (Williamson, 2015).
UNCERTAINTY SURROUNDING THE EFFECTS OF SUGAR CONSUMPTION ON THE GUT MICROBIOME AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON HUMAN HEALTH Grace Done Worcester Sixth Form College
INTRODUCTION: As the amount of sugar we consume daily increases, the diversity in the human gut microbiome lessens. Is the change in the bacteria living in our digestive system having potentially devastating impacts on human health? Is the saying ‘gut instinct’ more relevant today than it has ever been?
WHY THIS TOPIC IS IMPORTANT: As new research emerges, we are learning that the microbes in our digestive system play a much larger role in both physical and mental health; some evidence has even suggested the gut is like our ‘second brain’. With Western diets becoming more widespread, the popularity of processed, high-sugar foods has risen along with the numbers of people suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). We are only just beginning to discover that the high prevalence of glucose in our foods could be a major contributing and causative factor to IBD.
FINDINGS: Phillipo et al (2010) found that European children eat diets high in sugar, starch and animal protein with few complex carbohydrates, fibre or plant polysaccharides in contrast to infants in rural Africa. This study demonstrated that a diet high in glucose increased the abundance of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes, whilst simultaneously decreasing the abundance of Bacteroidetes. This causes endotoxemia, which has an inflammatory effect on the gut, likely explaining the higher prevalence of IBD cases in countries with Western diets. Patillo (2020), also discovered a correlation between increased sugar intake and IBD during his trials involving mice. Groups of mice, all with equal risk of colon inflammation, were fed different concentrations of glucose, sucrose or fructose solutions. The mice consuming the glucose and with the highest sugar consumption were found to have had the protective mucus layer in their gut eroded and due to this developed the highest incidence of IBD. Later in the study, the microbiota was transferred from those mice to a group of healthy mice who went on to have the same adverse effects. Figure 1. Colons from control mice and mice treated with the sugars glucose and fructose, stained for the mucin protein Muc2 (red) (Patillo, 2020).
Matthews (2020) discussed several studies which made a link between gut health and mental health. They likened the enteric nervous system (ENS) to the spinal cord describing it as a ‘second brain’ containing a similar number of neurons. The behavior of the microbes in the gut is carefully monitored by the ENS; the Vagus Nerve then relays this information to the brain. They go on to describe a link between the ENS and mood, suggesting that a less diverse microbiome, which can be caused by diets high in glucose, could be closely associated with clinical depression.
CONCLUSION: It is clear from the evidence presented that a diet high in refined sugars has a negative impact on the microbiome of the gut and may be a leading factor in rise of cases of IBD. Further research is needed to investigate the effects of high glucose consumption specifically in the human gut microbiome. More human trials, as opposed to studies using animals, are needed to explore potentially damaging effects it may have on our health: both physically and mentally, in order to improve health outcomes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Patillo A., (2020) Microbiome Study Explains How Sugar Hijacks An Essential Part Of Health [Online] Available at: https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/how-does-sugarinfluence-themicrobiome#:~:text=Research%20suggests%20sugar%20c onsumption%20can,bowel%20diseases%20like%20Crohn 's%20disease [Accessed 5 Sept 2021] Chow J., Tang H., Mazmanian S.K., (2012) Pathobionts of the Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Inflammatory Disease [Online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC342644 4/[Accessed 5 Sept 2021] Filippo C.D., Cavalieri D., Paola M.D., Ramazzotti M., Poullet J.B., Massart S., Collini S., Pieraccini G., Lionetti P., (2010) Impact Of Diet In Shaping Gut Microbiota Revealed By A Comparative Study In Children From Europe And Rural Africa [Online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC293042 6/[Accessed 5 Sept 2021] Matthews R., (2020) From microbiome to mental health: The second brain in your gut [Online] Science Focus. Available at: https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-humanbody/a-gut-feeling-meet-your-second-brain/ [Accessed 5 Sept 2021]
UNCERTAINTY IN THE LINK BETWEEN BRAIN STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFICULTIES IN PATIENTS - Anhukrisha Karthikeyan WITH WILLIAMS SYNDROME Introduction Williams syndrome (WS) is caused by the deletion of part of chromosome 7 and is a genetic disorder. The deleted portion of chromosome 7q11.23 seen in WS is in the region of chromosome #7 containing 26-28 genes. This contiguous gene deletion that contributes to the intellectual disability can be detected using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), refer Figure 1. Children with WS have developmental delays, learning and behavioural difficulties, however intellectual level ranges from average for the general population to severe intellectual disability, (Morris CA, 2020 and Morris CA 1988). Although there are no significant brain deformities, studies have shown that differences in brain structure can be observed in WS. What is the link between developmental deficits such as learning and behavioural difficulties in WS and altered brain structure?
Figure 1. FISH Test to Deduct William Syndrome
Findings
Conclusions
Boddaert et al., 2006, used Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) to study 9 intellectually disabled children with WS, and 11 normal age-matched control children. VBM analysis revealed that grey matter concentration was significantly decreased in the left parieto-occipital region in WS children compared to normal children, refer Figure.2. The parietal lobe contains the somatosensory cortex, which is responsible for processing sensory information and spatial processing (AANS). Likewise, the main function of the occipital lobe is to interpret incoming visual information. Thus, these abnormalities likely related to deficits in visuospatial construction and numerical cognition in children with WS. As per Campbella LE et al., 2009, the prior investigation of children with WS by Boddaert et al., 2006, was an important first step but needed replication in adolescents. The neuroanatomy of 15 children (mean age:13±2) with WS and 15 age/gender-matched control children were compared using optimised VBM tracing specific brain regions. Results indicated that children with WS had clusters of white matter reductions in the corpus callosum and basal ganglia region. This finding is supported by Faria et al., 2012, where the study compared individuals with WS to controls using multimodal neuroimaging data and showed basal ganglia atrophy in patients with WS. The corpus callosum is a bridge of fibers that connects the two brain hemispheres, allowing information to pass between them (AANS). Subsequently, the basal ganglia region is responsible for motor control, learning and executive functions (Lanciego et al., 2012). Thus, abnormalities in the basal ganglia, coupled with white matter reductions in the corpus callosum could be inferred to be a potential cause for the fine motor and developmental delays in WS. An integral part of the WS behaviour is is hypersociability and ‘cocktail’ speech. In a recent study (Wilder L et al.,2018), decreased neuron density in the prefrontal cortex (a brain region associated with social interaction) was found when postmortem samples of fourteen WS human brains (five adult, two infant) were examined alongside age-matched typically developing control brains, refer Figure 3. Hence this may contribute to the anxiety and atypical social behaviour observed in WS.
In conclusion, through investigating brain structure in WS patients using various techniques, it is possible to depict a correlation between brain abnormalities and developmental mechanisms in WS. However, there remain many questions regarding how the brain develops in WS. The associations of specific regional differences in the brain in WS with particular types of behavioural or cognitive differences discussed here are only possible inferences that can be made using the data available at hand through these studies, coupled with pre-existing knowledge of the function of different areas of the brain. Uncertainty still remains, and further research is required to establish strong causal links between the two aspects.
Why this is an important topic There is a high level of uncertainty regarding the exactly how the microdeletion of genes in WS leads to a spectrum of developmental difficulties. Investigating their association with structural alterations in the brain in WS can help us understand the phenomenon behind some of these deficits, which could pave the way for developing more efficient treatment plans to manage this condition.
Figure 2. VBM Analysis, WS vs. Normal Children: Boddaert et al., 2006
Figure 3. Mean neuron density in adults, WS vs. Typical: Wilder L et al., 2018
Bibliography Morris CA, Demsey SA, Leonard CO, Dilts C, Blackburn BL. Natural history of Williams syndrome: physical characteristics. J Pediatr. 1988 Aug;113(2):318-26. Morris CA, Braddock SR; COUNCIL ON GENETICS. Health Care Supervision for Children With Williams Syndrome. Pediatrics. 2020 Feb;145(2):e20193761. Boddaert N, Mochel F, Meresse I, Seidenwurm D, Cachia A, Brunelle F, Lyonnet S, Zilbovicius M. Parieto-occipital grey matter abnormalities in children with Williams syndrome. Neuroimage. 2006 Apr 15;30(3):721-5. AANS. Anatomy of the Brain. [Online]. https://www.aans.org/en/Patients/NeurosurgicalConditions-and-Treatments/Anatomy-of-the-Brain Campbell LE, Daly E, Toal F, Stevens A, Azuma R, Karmiloff-Smith A, Murphy DG, Murphy KC. Brain structural differences associated with the behavioural phenotype in children with Williams syndrome. Brain Res. 2009 Mar 3;1258:96-107. Faria AV, Landau B, O'Hearn KM, et al. Quantitative analysis of gray and white matter in Williams syndrome. Neuroreport. 2012;23(5):283-289. Lanciego JL, Luquin N, Obeso JA. Functional neuroanatomy of the basal ganglia. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2012;2(12):a009621. Wilder L, Hanson KL, Lew CH, Bellugi U, Semendeferi K. Decreased Neuron Density and Increased Glia Density in the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (Brodmann Area 25) in Williams Syndrome. Brain Sci. 2018 Nov 29;8(12):209.
Comparing the use of Nigella sativa (Black Seed) to Personalised Medicine (PM) to treat cancers in developing countries Aisha Adesope, Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology (NUAST) 1. INTRODUCTION Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death globally and the highest mortality rates are found in LMICs [1,2]. The emergence of PM has been driven by a spectrum of genomic breakthroughs in high-income countries (HICs) [4].
2 . W H Y T H I S I S A N I M P O R TA N T T O P I C
4. CONCLUSIONS Source: Shorrocks et al., 2021
The 4 main types of standard cancer treatments: o Chemotherapy o Immunotherapy o Surgery o Radiotherapy
Source: IAEA, 2021
However, there are a lot of economic implications and heavy costs surrounding PM which means that LMICs may not be able to benefit from such innovation. Research into alternative cancer treatments can be of global benefit.
Cancer is of resistant nature and often, a combination of these methods is used.
…How does N. sativa compare with PM to treat cancers in LMICs?
Hence, the potential oncological uses of N. sativa should be investigated, in comparison to PM, to provide these countries with an alternative treatment option at lower costs.
Map showing the Number of Radiotherapy Machines Per Million People, 2021
Map showing the Global Distribution of Wealth, 2020
There is a strong positive correlation between the wealth of a country and its accessibility to cancer treatments. PM is predicted to increase costs of cancer treatments [4] which would result in LMICs being at an even greater disadvantage in terms of cancer treatment provision.
3. FINDINGS Source: Hussain and Hussain, 2016
COSTS N. sativa falls under the category of phytomedicine. Their usage has increased dramatically due to factors which include their easy accessibility and low cost [14].
Source: Bing Images
Thymoquinone (TQ) constitutes about 30% of Black Seed extract. It is the major bioactive component of N. sativa. [12]
Source: Krzyszczyk et al., 2018
Nigella sativa
Personalised Medicine
PREDOMINANCE WHO reported that over 80% or communities in resource-limited countries rely on medicinal plants for primary health care needs. More than 60% of societies cannot access allopathic medicines [14,12]. PM is predominantly found in HICs, from where it is emerging. Most research and clinical trials are conducted on populations within HICs which limits global generalisability of PM [6].
There are high-start up costs associated with PM [4]. It is likely that, in the short term, only those with enough disposable income and private insurance will be able to afford the additional genetic tests for PM [10]. EVIDENCE OF IN VIVO ACTION An in vivo study has been performed on healthy volunteers. Results showed that ingestion of N. sativa oil significantly improved Natural Killer cytotoxic function [11]. PM has successfully been used in the US to treat cancers, including breast cancer and leukaemia [7]. The approach has also been through Phase I clinical trials with positive outcomes [10].
APPLICATION TO OTHER DISEASES N. sativa has the potential to be used for treatment of various diseases due to antioxidant and cyto-protective properties [9]. These include cardiovascular, diabetes and neurological disease amongst others [14,8]. Evidence of successful use in treating cystic fibrosis [7]. Research has also identified its potential use for type 2 diabetes, cardio and neuro diseases, as well as AMD [13] SIDE EFFECTS Use of N. sativa will have significantly fewer side effects due to the property of TQ in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced damages to non-tumour cells [5]. Existing drugs will still be administered. Fewer expected side effects due to more targeted approach based on identified tumour characteristics in each patient [3].
o Nigella sativa can be used to treat the same diseases as personalized medicine but at lower costs and with significantly fewer side effects. This is appealing for LMICs who now have a potential option for cancer treatment, realistic to their current economic situation. o Personalised medicine will no doubt improve effectiveness of cancer treatment via more targeted approaches to destroying tumours. However, this is set to further increase the already high costs of cancer treatment. o Further research into the molecular basis of the anticancer effects of N. sativa is needed before it can be administered to humans. ABBREVIATIONS: LMICs – Low-and-middle income countries WHO – World Health Organisation PM – Personalised medicine TQ – Thymoquinone HICs – High income countries AMD – Age-related macular degeneration
BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] Barnes, C. et al. (2018) Global Cancer Facts & Figures 4th Edition. 4. Atlanta, Georgia: American Cancer Society, pp. 1–76. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/global-cancer-facts-andfigures/global-cancer-facts-and-figures-4th-edition.pdf (Accessed: 6 September 2021). [2] Bazargani, Y.T. et al. (2014) ‘Selection of oncology medicines in low- and middle-income countries’, Annals of Oncology, 25(1), pp. 270–276. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdt514. [3] Bloom, E. (2018) ‘Impact of new personalised cancer treatments’, p. 78. [4] Chong, H.Y., Allotey, P.A. and Chaiyakunapruk, N. (2018) ‘Current landscape of personalized medicine adoption and implementation in Southeast Asia’, BMC Medical Genomics, 11(1), p. 94. doi:10.1186/s12920-018-0420-4. [5] Dehghani, H. et al. (2015) ‘The Comparison of Anticancer Activity of Thymoquinone and Nanothymoquinone on Human Breast Adenocarcinoma’, Iranian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research : IJPR, 14(2), pp. 539–546. [6] Drake, T.M. et al. (2018) ‘Global Inequities in Precision Medicine and Molecular Cancer Research’, Frontiers in Oncology, 8, p. 346. doi:10.3389/fonc.2018.00346. [7] Evans, C. (2015) Precision Medicine Is Already Working to Cure Americans: These Are Their Stories, whitehouse.gov. Available at: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/01/29/precision-medicine-already-working-cure-americansthese-are-their-stories (Accessed: 8 September 2021). [8] Hussain, D.A. and Hussain, M.M. (2016) ‘Nigella sativa (black seed) is an effective herbal remedy for every disease except death – a Prophetic statement which modern scientists confirm unanimously: A review’, p. 31. [9] Ijaz, H. et al. (2017) ‘Nigella sativa (Prophetic medicine): a review’, Pakistan journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 30(1), pp. 229–234. [10] Krzyszczyk, P. et al. (2018) ‘The growing role of precision and personalized medicine for cancer treatment’, TECHNOLOGY, 06(03n04), pp. 79–100. doi:10.1142/S2339547818300020. [11] Majdalawieh, A.F. and Fayyad, M.W. (2016) ‘Recent advances on the anti-cancer properties of Nigella sativa, a widely used food additive’, Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 7(3), pp. 173–180. doi:10.1016/j.jaim.2016.07.004. [12] Nili-Ahmadabadi, A. et al. (2011) ‘Protective effect of pretreatment with thymoquinone against Aflatoxin B1 induced liver toxicity in mice’, DARU : Journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 19(4), pp. 282–287. [13] Personalized Medicine (2014) National Institutes of Health (NIH). Available at: https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/whatwe-do/nih-turning-discovery-into-health/personalized-medicine (Accessed: 9 September 2021). [14] Yimer, E.M. et al. (2019) ‘Nigella sativa L. (Black Cumin): A Promising Natural Remedy for Wide Range of Illnesses’, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2019, pp. 1–16. doi:10.1155/2019/1528635.
Lucas Holik, North Bristol Post 16, Bristol
HOW CERTAIN ARE WE ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF SEA LEVEL RISE PREDICTIONS? Introduction
Findings
Conclusions
Greenhouse gases produced by all of us have generated an accelerated greenhouse effect which has caused the planet to warm. There are many potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming and one of them is rising sea levels. How can we predict future sea level rise to an accurate degree?
Sea level rise has two main contributors, melting ice (glaciers and ice sheets) and the thermal expansion of oceans as they warm. We can measure sea level using tide gauge stations around the Earth, taking a global average. As well as, more recently, using satellite altimeters in space; calculating the depth of the oceans from returning radar pulses. To measure temperature, drifting buoys, satellites and even aquatic robots can be used (Lindsey, 2021). From this we have found that melting ice is contributing approximately twice as much as the thermal expansion of the oceans to rising sea levels, as well as the rate at which ice is melting is accelerating which is worrying.
Sea level and temperature can be accurately measured by satellites, gauge stations and aquatic robots. Using this data we can extrapolate to make accurate predictions of future sea level rise. If global warming exceeds 2°C Antarctica’s and possibly more ice sheets’ rate of ice loss may rapidly increase. This will make it harder to accurately predict the extent of subsequent sea level rise. In order to keep sea level rise under control we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to restrict global warming to a maximum of 2°C. Hence, more research into cutting greenhouse gas emissions is necessary for this to happen.
Why is this important? It is estimated that with every 2.5 cm of sea level rise, 2.5 m of beach is lost (NEO, 2021). Therefore rising sea levels all over the world can have devastating impacts on low-lying countries and cities near coasts. These include: • • •
Larger and more powerful storm surges Drastically increased flooding Total loss of huge areas of land
Eight of the ten largest cities in the world, comprising of 1.68 billion people, are found by coasts. Hence being able to confidently estimate the magnitude of sea level rise in the future is crucial for governments to be able to plan ahead. Accurate estimations of sea level rise is needed to effectively mitigate the above hazards and ensure that help gets to areas where it is most urgently needed to protect peoples’ lives and livelihoods.
Figure 1. Sea level rise due to added water and thermal expansion from 1993 - 2018 (Lindsey, 2021).
Bibliography Figure 2. Sea level rise predictions depending on our CO2 emissions until 2300 (NEO, 2021).
A new study on marine ice instabilities has found that if we fail to keep global warming below 2°C, Antarctica’s ice loss could drastically increase around 2060 and even double by 2100, contributing 5 mm of sea level rise each year (Stone, 2021). At the moment total sea level rise is 3.4 mm a year (NASA, 2021). “In a 3°C warmer world, land ice adds twice as much to global sea levels by the end of the century compared with if temperatures only rise 1.5°C.” (Stone, 2021). As this is dependent on global warming we need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions, fast. If this happens to Antarctica maybe other ice sheets might cross their ‘thresholds’ and lose significantly more ice than before. This would not only make it very difficult to predict sea level rise, there would also be enhanced short and long term effects resulting from this.
NASA Earth Observatory (2021) Anticipating Future Sea Levels. Available from: https://bit.ly/ AnticipatingFutureSeaLevels [Accessed 22/08/2021]. Rebecca, L. (2021) Climate Change: Global Sea Level. Available from: http://bit.ly/ ClimateChangeGlobalSeaLevel [Accessed 22/08/2021]. Madeleine, S. (2021) Antarctica’s ice could cross this scary threshold within 40 years. Available from: https:// bit.ly/IceThresholdIn40Years [Accessed 22/08/2021]. NASA (2021) Sea Level. Available from: https:// climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level/ [Accessed 22/08/2021]. World Population Review (2021) World City Populations 2021. Available from: https:// worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities [Accessed 22/08/2021].
Naeema Hussain, Loreto College Manchester
HOW CAN WE NARROW THE GENDER PAY GAP IN THE UK? The gender pay gap has been an ongoing issue for several decades, and although the gap has substantially narrowed with time, several recurring factors are still a prominent cause of the this. How exactly can we narrow this gap?
More than 3 out of 4 UK companies pay their male staff more than their female staff, and in 9 out of 7 sectors in the economy, men earn 10% or more on average than women. (Wisniewska et al., 2020)
Research conducted by the Trades Union Congress found that the gender pay gap widens when women become mothers. The hourly wages of women who return to paid work after maternity leave decrease, on average, 2% for each year that they have not been in employment. One in twelve women took a cut in pay when returning to work after maternity leave. The hourly wages of women who return to paid work after maternity leave decrease, on average, 2% for each year that they have not been in employment (TUC 2017).
Work carried out by women seems to be less recognized and job evaluation schemes may undervalue the types of skills involved in the work of women (TUC 2017).
In a laboratory experiment, Small et al. (2007) discovered that men were nine times more likely than women to ask for higher compensation.
Employers should have more flexible options for women, family/friend carers, and those on maternity leave to ensure a better work-life balance. Childcare should be free to encourage mothers to return to work.
Since 2016, the gender pay gap among all employees in both smaller and larger companies (250 or more employees) has decreased (Office for National Statistics 2020).
The gender pay gap appears to be more apparent and pronounced in jobs where negotiation of wage is left ambiguous (Leibbrandt, List, 2015)
Employers should clearly promote option to negotiate salary, so they understand what a reasonable salary to expect is. If women are more willing to negotiate, their salary will most likely match that of men.
Motherhood pay penalty’
What can be done?
Transparency to pay, reward and promotion processes to allow openness towards policies and criterias when decision-making so others can review them to prevent pay inequalities (TUC 2017)
Paid parental leave- Parents should be allowed time off with continuous pay for any needed parental leave (GOV.UK 2017). Enhanced maternity- pay is set out in the employment contract (Ibid). Paternity and Shared Paternal Pay (ShPP)- parents can decide to leave in a more flexible way and leave together or separately (Ibid). Job shares- convenient for parttime workers, family carers, and women returners to not be penalised (Ibid). Childcare- for working parents should be free to encourage more women to return to work Smaller companies should also report specific figures about their gender pay- government only requires for larger companies of 250 employees or over to report these figures Encourage salary negotiations to allow more women to feel obliged to negotiate their salary
Transparency in polices and processes of decision-making within a job will allow equality in pay. Managers know that their decisions have to be objective as they can be reviewed by others, therefore encouraging more equality in pay.
TUC (2017) Gender pay gap reporting. Available from: https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/GPGreportinggu ide_0.pdf [Accessed 1st August 2021] GOV.UK (2017) Actions to close the gender pay gap. Available from: https://gender-paygap.service.gov.uk/actions-to-close-the-gap/effectiveactions [Accessed 2nd August 2021] Leibbrandt, A., & List, J. A. (2015.) Do women avoid salary negotiations? Evidence from a Large-scale Natural Field Experiment. Management Science. 61(9), 1-2. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1994 [Accessed 2nd August 2021] Wisniewska, A., Ehrenberg-Shannon, B., Gordon, S., (2020) Gender pay gap: how women are short-changed in the UK. Available from: https://ig.ft.com/gender-pay-gap-UK/ [Accessed 15th August 2021]
To what extent is the risk of transmission of COVID-19 between humans and domesticated animals affecting animal welfare? Katie Mollart - Newcastle Stafford Colleges Group
INTRODUCTION
FINDINGS
Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the pathogen SARS-CoV-2, which was first identified in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. As a respiratory illness, its main symptoms include a continuous cough, loss of sense of taste and/or smell and fever. Research has shown that SARS-CoV-2 has a similar genome to bat coronavirus, which suggests that bats may be the natural host of COVID-19. (Guo et al., 2020). As COVID-19 is such a new illness, we are still yet to know its full capacity as a virus. We have already seen that it is incredibly infectious - as of mid-July 2021, the UK has seen 5.43 million cases. The graph below shows the trend in new cases in the UK up to 18/7/2021.
Considering COVID-19 is a relatively new illness, there isn’t yet enough evidence to conclude whether there is a real risk of transmission to humans from animals. However, recent research has shown that there is in fact a chance of animals contracting COVID-19 from their owners, although it is a minimal risk (Calvet et al., 2021) All animals that tested positive experienced mild but reversible symptoms. Behaviours that increased risk of infection include sharing beds with ill owners and the animal spending most of its time inside.
CONCLUSIONS Evidence suggests that although there is a risk of COVID-19 transmission to pets from humans, this is a minimal risk and animals will only suffer from mild symptoms if infected. Measures can be taken to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 to your pets, such as not sharing spaces with them when ill. Research into transmission of COVID-19 between pets and humans is beneficial to public health, but may lead to increased rates of pet abandonment and welfare issues.
Image and data obtained from https://www.worldom eters.info/coronavirus /country/uk/ on 19/7/21
WHY IS THIS AN IMPORTANT TOPIC? Animal welfare is a hugely important topic in today’s society as we begin to focus more on their wellbeing rather than just as food sources. If there’s any risk of COVID-19 transmission between humans and pets, this should be widely investigated in order to cause any future issues to the animal’s physical and mental wellbeing. However, this kind of research does carry some issues - if studies find that animals can carry and transmit COVID-19 to humans, there’s a severe risk of an increase in animal abandonment and cruelty. This could also result in governments taking action to stop the spread of disease, as seen by Denmark’s mink cull which had detrimental impacts on not only mink, but also the farming industry.
Encaged mink in a fur farm. Image obtained from https://www.ft.com/content/6 24f65b5-cd3e-45a1-b7f4-eea cff4f74fd (img: Reuters) on 19/7/21
BIBLIOGRAPHY The results of this study shown above show there is a small chance of animals contracting COVID from their owner, however, even though the chances are small this could still have detrimental impacts on animals in the future.
PRODUCTION ANIMAL WELFARE The majority of research focuses on companion animals like cats and dogs, however, the welfare of production animals is equally important. A study conducted in a USA pork farm revealed major issues in the pigs’ health and habitat. Due to the pandemic causing staff shortages, thousands of pigs had to be needlessly killed due to lower slaughter capacity. Also, welfare checks had to be done via video call - this meant that many serious issues in the farm could’ve been missed. (Grandin, 2021)
Calvet, G., Pereira, S., Ogrzewalska, M., Pauvolid-Corrêa, A., Resende, P., Tassinari, W., Costa, A., Keidel, L., da Rocha, A., da Silva, M., dos Santos, S., Lima, A., de Moraes, I., Mendes Junior, A., Souza, T., Martins, E., Ornellas, R., Corrêa, M., Antonio, I., Guaraldo, L., Motta, F., Brasil, P., Siqueira, M., Gremião, I. and Menezes, R., 2021. Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in dogs and cats of humans diagnosed with COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PLOS ONE, 16(4), p.e0250853. Grandin, T., 2021. Methods to Prevent Future Severe Animal Welfare Problems Caused by COVID-19 in the Pork Industry. Animals, 11(3), p.830. Guo, Y., Cao, Q., Hong, Z., Tan, Y., Chen, S., Jin, H., Tan, K., Wang, D. and Yan, Y., 2020. The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak – an update on the status. Military Medical Research, 7(11).
Madeleine(Caso,(Peter(Symonds(College TO#WHAT#EXTENT#IS#UNCERTAINTY#NECESSARY#FOR#CHARACTER#DEVELOPMENT#IN#20TH CENTURY#AMERICAN#LITERATURE? Introduction Uncertainty(is(rife(in( American(literature(as( characters(navigate(the( changing(landscape(of(20th century(society.(This( allows(us(to(analyze(the( effects(uncertainty(had(on( people(at(the(time(and( discover(to(what(extent(it( is(necessary(for(character( development(within(this( genre(of(literature.(
Why#this#is#an# important#topic The(20th century(was(a( period(of(great(social(and( industrial(change(and( these(novels(reflect( prominent(attitudes(and( issues(of(the(time.(Each( offers(insight(into(how( different(people(and( classes(dealt(with(the(era( of(uncertainty(and( provides(criticism(in( showing(isolated(events(of( uncertainty(and(their( impact(on(character’s(lives( and(development.(
The#Catcher#in#the#Rye:#The(Catcher(in(the(Rye(tracks(Holden(Caufield’s(descent(into(mental(illness(due(to(his(inability(to(accept(
adulthood(and(the(“phoney”.((Throughout(the(novel(Holden(bounces(from(place(to(place(revisiting(his(past(and(trying(to(carve(out a( future(– for(example(when(he(tries(to(convince(“Old(Sally”(to(run(away(with(him(to(Massachusetts.(But,(when(questioned(later(by(his( sister(Phoebe,(it(becomes(clear(Holden(doesn’t(know(what(he(wants(to(be(or(do(with(his(life.(It(is(the(worry(of(uncertainty(over his( future(that(forces(Holden’s(character(development((or(breakdown)(taking(him(from(a(carefree,(innocent(child((to(the(brink(of( adulthood(where(responsibility(torments(him(and(he(is(uncertain(how(to(escape(it’s(charade(and(be(genuinely(happy.(
Of#Mice#and#Men: Steinbeck’s(novel(is(set(during(the(Great(Depression(a a(period(of(economic(uncertainty(and(job(insecurity(– which( provides(a(stark(background(for(George(and(Lennie’s(dream(of(security,(certainty(and(the(simple(life((i.e.(living(of(their(own(land).(When( Lennie(is(killed,(George(abandons(this(dream(and(continues(life(as(a(farm(hand,(alone(and(uncertain(of(where(he(will(end(up(next.(Bert( Cardullo(asserts(that(there(is(a(“tragic(inevitability”(to(George’s(fate(as(it(is(“predicted(for(him(by(Crooks”(earlier(in(the(novel.(Whilst( there(is(evidence(for(this(in(the(novel’s(cyclical(layout((opening(and(ending(with(the(death(of(innocents:(the(mice(and(Lennie), it(is(more( interesting(to(explore(the(possibility(George(pushes(this(uncertain(lifestyle(onto(himself(as(punishment(a having(still(been(able(to(buy(his( own(land(with(Candy.(Hence(uncertainty(becomes(the(necessary(final(state(of(George’s(character(development(in(order(to(cope(with the( grief(and(guilt(of(Lennie’s(death.
Findings
The#Great#Gatsby:#Despite(uncertainty(in(the(novel,(Fitzgerald(presents(Jay(Gatsby(as(a(man(stuck(very(much(in(his(ways(with(little( change(throughout(on(even(the(smallest(things(– such(as(the(saying(“old(sport”(that(quickly(becomes(his(catchphrase.(Gatsby(is(a caricature(of(wealth(and(indulgence(and(his(pursuit(of(Daisy(further(reinforces(this.(When(Daisy(becomes(uncertain(that(her(love for(Jay( is(allaencompassing((like(he(wants),(Gatsby(retreats(deeper(into(his(desire(for(Daisy(and(can(only(cling(to(his(rhetoric(of(“you never(loved( him”.(Here(uncertainty(has(the(opposite(effect,(rather(than(it(catalyzing(character(development,(the(uncertainty(of(Daisy’s(love entrenches(Gatsby’s(persona(and(leaves(him(unable(to(move(on(from(his(4(year(dream.( To#Kill#a#Mockingbird:#In(To(Kill(a(Mockingbird,(Scout(is(able(to(learn(and(grow(as(uncertainty(becomes(certainty.(Still(being(a(child,( the(novel(follows(her(making(sense(of(the(culture(and(people(she(lives(around(and(hence(formulating(her(own(opinions(and(definition( of(right(and(wrong.(Further,(Corley(E.(Humphrey(states(that(ultimately(the(novel(is(a(“comingaofaage”(story((so(“internal(uncertainty(is( common”.(This(can(be(seen(after(Tom(Robinson’s(trial(where(Scout’s(confusion(is(replaced(with(a(feeling(of(deep(injustice.(In fact,( Corley(also(argues(it(is(her(“moral(center”(that(“guides(her(through(difficulties”(which(suggests(that(Scout’s(developing(inner(certainty( allows(her(to(navigate(the(uncertainties(of(American(childhood(in(the(1930s.(Atticus(too(has(moral(certainty(which(allows(him to remain(a(steadfast,(moral(figure(throughout(the(novel(in(spite(of(the(uncertainty(he(faces(over(the(trial(and(his(reputation. He claims( “the(one(thing(that(doesn’t(abide(by(majority(rule(is(a(person’s(conscience”(and(so(Harper(Lee(presents(us(not(only(with(characters(who( grow(and(develop(due(to(uncertainty(but(also(those(who(can(be(secure(and(resolute(when(faced(with(uncertainty.(
Conclusions
N It(can(hence(be(argued(that(external(
uncertainty(is(an(effective(catalyst(for(character( development(as(it(pushes(characters(like(Scout( and(George(into(unknown(situations(where( they(are(forced(to(adapt(and(then(live(with(the( consequences,(like(the(deaths(of(Lennie(and( Tom(Robinson.( N Internal(uncertainty((or(inner(turmoil)(is(often( the(demise(of(American(protagonists.(Both( Holden(Caufield(and(Jay(Gatsby(are(unable(to( overcome(their(doubts(and(desires(leaving( them(embalmed(in(their(uncertainty(– whether( that(be(in(a(psych(ward(or(coffin.( N Uncertainty(is(necessary(for(character( development(but(the(presence(of(uncertainty(in( a(novel(doesn’t(necessarily(mean(a(character( will(have(development.(This(is(best(presented( in(To(Kill(a(Mockingbird(as(uncertainty(allows( Scout(to(grow(whereas(for(Atticus,(who(has( already(matured,(it(becomes(a(test(of(his( morals(and(resolution.( Bibliography
J.D.(Salinger,((1951),(The(Catcher(in(the(Rye John(Steinbeck,((1937),(Of(Mice(and(Men Cardullo,(Bert.((2007).(On(the(Road(to(Tragedy:( Mice,(Candy(and(Land(in(Of(Mice(and(Men F.(Scott(Fitzgerald,((1925),(The(Great(Gatsby Harper(Lee,((1960),(To(Kill(a(Mockingbird Humphrey,(C.(E.((2021).(‘You(Never(Get(it(Out( Your(Bones”:(The(Christ(Haunted(Security(of( Jean(Louise(“Scout”
Uncertainty in heartbeat: how can the features of chaotic systems be used to optimise the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac fibrillation?
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Manav Sood Rushcliffe School
Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AFib) and ventricular fibrillation (VFib) are forms of cardiac arrhythmia occurring due to irregularities in the electrical impulses that coordinate the normal sinus rhythm of the heart, resulting in disorderly heartbeat. Chaotic systems exhibit seemingly random behaviour, however are in fact deterministic as subsequent states of the system are connected by some set of mathematical equations with its initial state. A standard electrocardiogram (ECG) test is the most common existing method of diagnosing arrhythmia, however this type of ECG is a static picture and so may fail to detect intermittent arrhythmias (Fredriksson et al., 2020). If the cardiac system is indeed chaotic, it may be possible to modify the existing ECG to predict the onset of fibrillation before it has even occurred by identifying the route to chaos. For this to be possible, evidence is required to prove that fibrillation is a display of chaos.
Findings
Conclusions
Features of chaotic systems can be observed from examining ECG time series recordings from patients with atrial and ventricular fibrillation.
Figure 1. Spontaneous period doubling of electric potential occurs at around 76 seconds in human ECG preceding ventricular fibrillation (Small et al., 2003). Figure 2. Poincaré plot of interactivation levels during atrial fibrillation in human ECG (Weiss et al., 1999).
Observations of period doubling prior to VFib in Figure 1 may imply that there is a period doubling bifurcation route to chaos, similar to mathematical ▪ Earlier detection enables quicker management of the equations such as the logistic map where minor differences in the growth condition, which in turn can reduce the risk of rate parameter are amplified in the outcome due to period doubling complications such as stroke. bifurcations, resulting in wildly dissimilar outcomes (this sensitivity to initial ▪ If the cardiac system is deterministic, meaning that the conditions is the Butterfly Effect). It can therefore be similarly hypothesised erratic heartbeat observed is in fact controlled by a that certain cases of fibrillation are induced due to minor irregularities in certain set of rules and equations, it would imply that some critical parameters that control cardiac activity being exponentially such a condition may not be as complex to treat as magnified by period doubling bifurcations in the system. The Poincaré plot in initially thought and so would offer a fresh perceptive Figure 2 shows the relationship between the present value of interactivation from which the condition can be analysed. levels (In+1) and its previous value (In). If there was no relationship, it would ▪ If the underlying equations of a chaotic cardiac system yield a formless cloud of points, however the plot exhibits a definite ring-like could be discovered, it may enable unwanted structure, suggesting that these interactivation levels are deterministic outcomes such as fibrillation to be counteracted if (Weiss et al., 1999). The identification of these key features supports the some intervention method can be developed. hypothesis that, although the cardiac system is seemingly random, it is in fact governed by some underlying mathematical equations.
Significance of this topic
The evidence suggests that specific routes to chaos such as the bifurcation route can be precursors to the onset of fibrillation (Dai & Schaeffer, 2010), supporting the initial hypothesis that diagnosis can occur earlier than existing standards. In addition, given that chaotic systems are highly sensitive to initial conditions for some critical parameters controlling cardiac activity, further research should focus upon the treatment methods of identifying and manipulating the critical parameters for the cardiac system to eliminate the chaos observed in heartbeat. This could perhaps be achieved by developing antiarrhythmic drugs that are able to regulate and maintain acceptable values for these parameters so as to induce a stable outcome. A limitation of this is its complexity, as it will most probably require an accurate model to be developed with sufficient knowledge of the defining equations and critical parameters of the system.
Bibliography Dai, S. & Schaeffer, D. G. (2010). Chaos for cardiac arrhythmias through a one-dimensional modulation equation for alternans. Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 20(2), p.023131-1. Available from: doi: 10.1063/1.3456058 Fredriksson et al., (2020). Intermittent vs continuous electrocardiogram event recording for detection of atrial fibrillation-Compliance and ease of use in an ambulatory elderly population. Clinical Cardiology, 43(4), p.361. Available from: doi: 10.1002/clc.23323. Small et al., (2003). Observation of a Period Doubling bifurcation during Onset of Human Ventricular Fibrillation. International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, 13(3), p.746. Available from: doi: 10.1142/S0218127403006911 Weiss et al., (1999). Chaos and the Transition to Ventricular Fibrillation. AHA Journals, 99(21), p.2822. Available from: doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.99.21.2819
Milla Withers St Wilfrid’s RC College
METHODS TO CONTROL THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO VIRAL GENE THERAPY VECTORS
INTRODUCTION
FINDINGS
CONCLUSIONS
Gene therapy vectors can be viral or non-viral. Transduction, via viral vectors, is favoured in most clinical trials as it is more efficient. However, viral vectors can trigger an immune response in the body to the viral genetic material (Cotrim and Baum, 2008). The innate response could have originated from previous infection with the wild-type virus (Mingozzi and High, 2013).
One way of hiding the immune response from the vector is to use immunosuppressants, such as prednisone (Brouillette, 2019) or dexamethasone (Sack and Herzog, 2009). These drugs can decrease the levels of pre-existing antibodies, and subsequent treatment could also prevent adaptive immunity. (Bulaklak and Gersbach, 2020). Due to potential side effects, their usage should be evaluated when used in a patient with an already weakened immune system, such as those receiving chemotherapy.
There are two primary methods of avoiding an overall immune response: vector modification or reducing antibody levels (Sack and Herzog, 2009).
This is an issue for gene therapies, as antibodies can destroy vectors (Sack and Herzog, 2009), rendering the treatment ineffective as no gene product can be made.
Another strategy is plasmapheresis, the process of clearing antibodies from the blood. Whilst this is relatively non-invasive (Mingozzi and High, 2013), it is a timeconsuming method (Brouillette, 2019).
The small selection of methods described will also have to be evaluated depending on the patient’s disease, level of pre-existing immunity, and the efficiency of the strategy. Therefore, uncertainty as to how successful the methods will be in gene therapy treatments requires further research into the immune response to viral vectors, although significant progress has been made since the first clinical trials.
VECTORS USED IN GENE THERAPY TRIALS SINCE 1989 Nonviral 30%
Viral 70%
Figure 1: Type of vector used in previous gene therapy trials (Cotrim and Baum, 2008)
WHY THIS IS AN IMPORTANT TOPIC The uncertainty in this topic arises from the fact that research in animals may not necessarily yield methods that will be effective in humans (Sack and Herzog, 2009) and the success of a method may differ depending on the body tissue that the vector is injected into (Mingozzi and High, 2013). A singular method may not be able to completely eradicate the immune response’s impacts by itself, considering the complexity of the human immune response (Sack and Herzog, 2009). As up to 50% of patients are excluded due to their previous immunity to the vector (Bulaklak and Gersbach, 2020) it is important to control the immune response to ensure that as many patients as possible have access to treatment. The therapy could increase life expectancy or improve quality of life for these patients (Cotrim and Baum, 2008).
The vector dosage also has to be considered when in the immune response’s role in treatment efficacy. A low vector dose will be ineffective due to neutralisation by antibodies present from the innate response. A high dosage could activate adaptive immunity, leading to the eventual release of antibodies “until a critical threshold is reached.” (Mingozzi and High, 2013). Consequently, there is uncertainty as to what vector concentrations are needed to preserve efficacy but avoid triggering an immune response.
Figure 1: “Model of the relationship between capsid dose and outcome of gene transfer following systemic vector delivery.” (Mingozzi and High, 2013).
Modifying the vector’s capsid changes the amino acid sequences of surface Modifying vector’s capsid changes amino acid sequences of blood surface attachmentthe proteins (Brouillette, 2019).the Antibodies circulating in the as a attachment proteins (Brouillette, 2019). Antibodies circulating in the blood as result of humoural immunity will therefore not bind to the capsid, allowing the aviral result will notHowever, bind to the allowing theaddress viral vector to vectorof tohumoural enter the immunity cell fully intact. thiscapsid, method “does not t-cell enter the cell(Brouillette, fully intact. 2019), However, this method “does not address t-cellcould be recognition” as different complementary antibodies recognition” produced. (Brouillette, 2019), and subsequent antibody production. The usage ofthe empty capsids containing genetic material could use used asuse Additionally, usage of empty capsidsno containing no genetic material could decoys absorbtoantibodies, preventing hydrolysis of theeffectively vector. (Mingozzi and used astodecoys absorb antibodies against the vector preventing High, 2013). capsids an inexpensive by-product of vector manufacture. hydrolysis of These the vector and are subverting innate immunity (Mingozzi and High, On the These other hand, they increase antigen concentrations in the manufacture. target organ which 2013). capsids are an inexpensive by-product of vector could potentially trigger adaptive immunity (Mingozzi 2013). However, they increase antigen concentrations in theand siteHigh, of vector administration which could trigger adaptive immunity (Mingozzi and High, 2013).
A challenge facing methods of vector modification is that although innate immunity can be supressed, recognition of the new capsids could occur. Therefore, immunosuppressants could still be needed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Bulaklak K, Gersbach CA. The once and future gene therapy. Nat Commun. 2020 Nov 16;11(1): 5820.Available from: doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19505-2. PMID: 33199717; PMCID: PMC7670458 [Accessed 10th of April 2021]. Cotrim AP, Baum BJ. Gene Therapy: Some History, Applications, Problems, and Prospects. Toxicologic Pathology. 2008;36(1):97- Available from; doi:10.1177/0192623307309925 [Accessed 14th of April 2021]. Mingozzi F, High KA. Immune responses to AAV vectors: overcoming barriers to successful gene therapy. Blood. 2013 Jul 4;122(1):23-36. Available from: doi: 10.1182/blood-2013-01-306647. Epub 2013 Apr 17. PMID: 23596044; PMCID: PMC3701904 {Accessed 28th of April 2021]. Monique Brouillette / The Scientist (2019) Strategies for Smuggling Gene Therapy Past the Immune System. Available from: Strategies for Smuggling Gene Therapies Past the Immune System | The Scientist Magazine® (thescientist.com). [Accessed 30th of April 2021] Sack BK, Herzog RW. Evading the immune response upon in vivo gene therapy with viral vectors. Curr Opin Mol Ther. 2009 Oct;11(5):493-503. PMID: 19806497; PMCID: PMC3584155 [Accessed 4th of May 2021]
Q
Is there an Institutional Racial Bias Within Medical Courses?
How to
Morgan Nash and Jade Smart
ABSTRACT
THE STATISTICS
The death of George Floyd has sparked mass global discussions and a demand for the introspection into aspects surrounding societal approaches to racism that exist in the modern world. One aspect of society that is now currently under the microscope of activists is the medical care of patients. Medicine, as well as other courses that lead into allied healthcare professions, are some of the most highly regarded courses in the modern world, with those graduating undertaking often grueling tasks to ensure the health of the population is maintained as well as humanly possible. However, are there some parts of medicine, including images depicted in textbooks and preconceived beliefs held by both teachers and students, that may make it arduous to ensure that patients are all treated equally in hospital settings? Throughout this poster, we will aim to establish whether institutional racism plays a role in certain problems within the medical world, such as racial bias in pain assessment and treatment and the falsehoods surrounding the biological differences between different ethnicities. This is in order to establish what we can do differently as a society and will detail different parts of medical and allied healthcare courses that should possibly be changed in order for us to allow for the change in society that is so greatly needed to allow for medical ethics and the NHS constitution to extend further than the white man or woman, as we know there are elements that are intrinsically - but not necessarily expressed as – racist.
Many statistics showing the unfair disparities between things such as diagnosis in the medical population could be used in this poster, due to the amount of bias that has continually been declared within different aspects of healthcare: A study in 2016 by Hoffman et al involved observing 418 medical students and residents completing mock medical cases about a black and a white patient and had to make pain ratings and medication recommendations for each of them. Hoffman also measured the beliefs about biological differences between different races and found that participants endorsed 11.55% of false beliefs, with 50% of participants reporting at least one of the false beliefs was likely to be true. Therefore, this shows that bias is clearly prevalent in the medical community which can negatively impact the lives of people of colour. Furthermore, here are some statistics that further encapsulate problems with bias: The chance of death is 1 in 2,500 for black women when giving birth, but the rate was 5 times smaller in white women between 2014-2016. An analysis of a textbook by a leading clinical dermatologist found only 4%-18% of images depicted dark skin. African American women experienced a significantly higher risk of 2 months delay in diagnosis and surgical treatment of breast cancer.
THE OBJECTIVES: We wish to acknowledge whether racial bias, unconscious or conscious, is prevalent within medical education and hospitals in the UK. Throughout this poster, we will attempt to understand the ways in which medical students are taught, through various textbooks and what they are told by professionals, to be able to establish whether there are problems within courses and institutions themselves, and what we can do as a society that can largely impact upon how we are taught to better understand how to treat everyone in an equal manner. Objectives we are hoping to met for this poster includes: introspection into the medical textbooks utilised up and down the country, the case of Serena Williams and the traumatic birth entailed upon her due to negligence of the professionals around her, focusing on statistics that support the idea that there is an institutional bias between different races within the UK’s medical sector, such as during childbirth and the diagnosis of skin conditions and modern controversies fraught with racism surrounding different universities even today, despite global protests for equal treatment amongst all the races.
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2019 w w w .P o s te rP re s e n ta tio n s .c o m
THE PROBLEMS WITH RESOURCES IN MEDICINE: For a large proportion of courses revolving around medicine and allied healthcare, there is a predominant utilisation of textbooks in order to gain knowledge surrounding health problems and disease to fully encapsulate knowledge that students have both learned in lectures and from their experience in a hospital setting. However, a problem with these textbooks is that they do not particularly encapsulate the target population the students (as future doctors and nurses) are likely to meet, specifically in the case of skin problems, with the focal point surrounding the patients skin tone, consistently making use of white skin tone while simultaneously not using darker ones that would allow for an understanding of how symptoms are presented in all parts of the population. This has led to BIPOC taking on the challenge of creating their own books surrounding clinical signs in black and brown skin, such as a clinical handbook known as “Mind The Gap” by Malone Mukwende, who explained in a Zoom interview that he felt as though he were alienated at his time at St George’s due to racial disparities and lack of representations in the textbooks that were meant to inform him of conditions, and how they have been presented in all skin tones. His book has allowed clinicians of all races to be able to better understand the presentation of symptoms focusing on the skin, which has highlighted the lack of diversity in medical literature and education. Since its release, it has been featured in the British Medical Journal, the House of Lords and many other places of importance, signifying a hopeful change that will encourage places of education to consider promoting a more diverse range of medical textbooks.
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CASE STUDY – SERENA WILLIAMS
CONCLUSIONS: WHAT CAN WE DO BETTER?
Serena Williams is a black, female American professional tennis player who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, holding the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles held by a player in the Open Era, coming second in history behind Margaret Court. She is also a mother to Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, who Serena gave birth to in 2017, with the post-natal experience being traumatic due to medical negligence. Problems started arising one day post-Caesarian Section, when Serena started feeling short of breath, which was a symptom of a pulmonary embolism that Williams had experienced prior to this in 2011, having to undergo emergency surgery to save her life from blood clots which had travelled to her lungs from deep veins prior. However, upon mentioning this problem that she knew all too well before, Williams conveyed that she was shocked to find that the nurse who she explained this to simply believed that the medication she was taking had caused her to become confused. This passiveness of nurses and doctors of the black population has been consistently seen throughout modern history, with black people 40% more likely to die from a stroke and 3x more likely to die from pregnancy related complications in comparison to non-Hispanic white people. As well as this, negligence of the worries of people of colour have been shown in the psychological world too; evidence suggests that those from a BAME background are at a comparatively higher risk of mental health than their counterparts, yet BAME mothers showing signs of postpartum depression who are also at a greater risk of developing it – are less likely to receive treatment, emphasizing how BAME mental health is not taken as seriously as other people’s. Compared with a dangerous lack of education in textbooks surrounding any skin colour other than white being used in both textbooks and case study examinations, the evidence that inequalities are found in medical education and subsequently healthcare as a whole is astounding, and clearly need to be stamped out by society in order to protect everyone’s psychological and mental health going into the future. Serena Williams’ experience has seen her be able to thrive after the birth of her daughter, however many who were in the same situation as Serena have not been as lucky. Therefore, we need to fix these inequalities permanently and on a large scale in order to prevent similar experiences from happening to other people of colour.
From what we’ve established in this poster, we personally believe that there is clear implicit bias within the medical world, shown clearly through the statistics that have been established throughout. However, we believe we can do better by ensuring that words are given meaning. By this, we mean that we don’t just say that we aim to treat every patient the same, we perform and are shown how to perform this from the moment we step into any educational setting, to the point in which we graduate in order to treat every patient of every skin colour. This starts with eradicating racial bias in training to become a teacher of any level or subject through compulsory racial bias training in order to eradicate stereotypes, which in turn can prevent students from taking on the mindset that races should be treated differently. Furthermore, removing biased medical textbooks and cases which predominantly utilise white skin, practically shutting out any proper chance to understand illness such as skin conditions, and how they differ in looks in different skin tones, should be encouraged, and opt for books that show any medical problem on different skin to allow future doctors to make correct decisions later on and not lead to a misdiagnosis or the pushing away of a person of colour’s worries about their health
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FURTHER RESEARCH:
When does such discrimination actually begin? Sociologists have found that during even the earliest years of education, teachers label particular students to be “disruptive” and “lacking discipline.” Furthermore, Gilborn and Youdel conducted a study into teacher labelling and concluded that teachers often have racialized expectations and stereotypes surrounding their pupils. Black students in particular are commonly depicted to be aggressive and delinquent, leading them to be punished and criticized for minor offences that would be easily overlooked if committed by a white child. Understandably, these actions have major consequences upon the children, commonly resulting in black children having a lack of self esteem due to the unnecessary persecution of their educators contributing to underachievement and an increase in conflicting attitudes. Moreover, even if the children were not mentally undermined and suppressed, external action would also be taken. As suggested by Foster, ethnic minorities repeatedly would be placed into lower sets which in turn would further limit the pupil’s likelihood of success. Unfortunately, black children are not the only victims of educational racism as other ethnic minorities including Asian individuals have also been reported to have experienced discrimination within the classroom. During the late 1980’s, through a series of observations, Wright discovered that Asian children were frequently perceived as a “problem that could be ignored” as a result of the biased assumption that their English would not be sufficient for active participation in classwork (teachers would only ask short and simple questions to the students leading to a feeling of inferiority and isolation.) Ultimately, these outrageous actions contributed to the underachievement of ethnic minorities and the decrease in motivation or willingness to attempt to excel onto higher education or high earning careers (including those in medicine.) Therefore, this subsequent bias by teachers is a possible leading factor in reasons behind why such figures in this poster are shown, and can pass on to the younger generation who are subsequently going to become those who diagnose – or don’t – those of a different race, placing beliefs in the cranium before even wanting to become a medic.
REFERENCES Kelly M Hoffman, Sophie Trawalter, Jordan R Axt, M Normal Oliver. Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between black people and white people. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Apr 19; 113(16): 4296–4301. P.R Lockhart. What Serena Williams’ scary childbirth says about medical treatment of black women. 2018. Olivia Johnson. The dangerous lack of diversity in science and medicine textbooks. 2020. Molly Longman. How bias in medical textbooks endangers BIBOC, 2020 August 31. Emma Kasprzak. Why are black mothers at more risk of dying? BBC. 2019 April 12 Malone Mukwende et al. Mind The Gap. 2020. Prethibha George, Sheenu Chandwani et al. Diagnosis and surgical delays in African American and White Women with early stage breast cancer. 2015 March 1. Usha Lee McFarling. Dermatology faces a reckoning: lack of darker skin in textbooks and journals harms patients of colour. 2020 July 21.
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Natie Camillini
UNCERTAINTY IN THE FINANCIAL VIABILITY OF ALGAE BIOMASS FARMS Humanity is in urgent need of clean sources of energy if we are to survive the climate crisis. Algae biomass farms (ABFs) are a possible solution due to their net zero emissions, but are currently too expensive to replace fossil fuel-based systems.
There are two main ABF designs currently being researched: openpools and enclosed bioreactors. Both have pros and cons, as while open-pools can be built and operated much more cheaply, enclosed bioreactors’ biomass output can be ‘13 times greater than that of a traditional raceway pond, on average’ (Christi, 2007 as cited by Wen, 2019). Therefore, a cheap-to-build system with high oil production needs to be designed for financial viability.
So can we engineer these farms to be financially viable?
As well as the overall design of the farm, the strain of microalga can also be modified to yield greater oil output. Figure 1 shows that different microalgae possess drastically different oil contents, so selecting the best species is necessary in maximising efficiency in order to keep production costs as low as possible.
It goes without saying that global warming is a major problem; it has already caused severe droughts, devastating weather, even the extinction of countless species, and will continue to wreck havoc on us and the planet with no end in sight. However, this cataclysm is also being primarily driven by the emission of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels (NASA, 2021), meaning that should carbon-neutral biofuel replace conventional petroleum, climate change could be significantly hindered. Current research focuses on the viability of conventional AFB designs, so research into improved designs is vital.
Genetic engineering may also play a role in the near future, as strains of microalga could be engineered to have high productivity and oil contents (Lundquist et al., 2010, p.23). Figure 1. Oil content by percentage dry mass of various algal species (Wen, 2019)
Eric (2021) suggests focusing on harnessing gravitational advantages to eliminate costly machinery such as pumps. His design includes all liquid flowing freely by gravity, with a simple hydraulic ram to filter the water from biomass, therefore greatly reducing the machinery expenses of an AFB.
ABFs are still in early development stages, but it seems possible to improve farming methods to the point of financial viability. The main targets to achieve this are: - Reducing production costs - Increasing oil output - Reducing equipment costs Further research into different bioreactor models would be useful in order to synthesise one model with as many benefits as possible.
Eric (2021) Algae Biofuel Farm: Photobioreactor Harvester Extraction System. Available from: https://offgridworld.com/algae-biofuel-farmphotobioreactor-harvester-extraction-system/ [Accessed 21st August 2021] Lundquist, T.J., Woertz, I.C., Quinn, N.W.T., and Benemann, J.R. (2010) A Realistic Technology and Engineering Assessment of Algae Biofuel Production. Energy Biosciences Institute, p.1-153. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47654202_A_Rea listic_Technology_and_Engineering_Assessment_of_Algae_Bi ofuel_Production [Accessed 21st August 2021] NASA Earth Science Communications Team (2021) The Causes Of Climate Change. Available from: https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/ [Accessed 21st August 2021] Wen, Z. (2019) Algae for Biofuel Production. Available from: https://farm-energy.extension.org/algae-for-biofuelproduction/#Estimated_production_cost [Accessed 21st August 2021]
Thomas Hush, Newcastle and Stafford Colleges group
To what extent has Hilbert's program impacted mathematicians' perspective on maths? Introduction Since the early 1920's, when David Hilbert put forward his program aiming to set the foundations of mathematics and create a complete and consistent set of axioms, mathematicians have been left with an unfortunate truth that mathematics will never be a perfectly complete system.
Why is this an important topic? As a part of his program Hilbert proposed that the mathematical system of axioms should be complete, consistent and decidable. However, it was soon discovered that none of these could be proven true, leading to revelations such as: ▪ Statements such as the "The Twin Prime Conjecture" (Hosch, 2017) maybe unprovable. ▪ In physics the proposed Theory of Everything which aims to fully describe the physical world, may be impossible to complete. (Ben-Ya'acov, 2019) ▪ As mathematics can't be proven to be consistent, we can't tell whether we will come across a contradiction in our current mathematical system.
Findings
Conclusions
Hilbert's proposals of mathematical completeness and consistency were dispelled by Gödel in 1931 when he published his 2 incompleteness theorems. The first of these focused on the completeness of any mathematical system. Gödel chose to build his own mathematical system which would allow him to assign any statement its own unique Gödel number. By using self-reference, which is common in maths, he was able to show that maths will always have true statements that are unprovable and is therefore incomplete. (Veritasium, 2021) Gödel also proved that as a corollary of his first theorem it must be impossible for a system to prove its own consistency.
John Conway's Game of Life (Gardner, 1970)
The final of Hilbert's proposals was on decidability; however, this was also found to be untrue by Alan Turing in 1936. Turing wanted to be able to tell if a program ran through his machines would eventually halt or loop forever. Turing shortly discovered that there was no way of knowing what would happen with any given program and realised that the same thing could be said about any mathematical system. Since Turing's discovery many other programs and systems have been found to be undecidable examples of these are: Conway's Game of Life and quantum physics
Although all of Hilbert's propositions turned out to be false, they still provided mathematicians with an insight into the seemingly flawed system they work with. Despite Gödel's findings, mathematicians still choose to show optimism and assume that any problem they are working on has a solution/proof.
Bibliography Hosch, Chopra, Gregersen (2017) Twin Prime Conjecture. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/science/twinprime-conjecture [Accessed 18th July 2021]. Ben-Ya’acov (2019). Gödel’s incompleteness theorem and Universal physical theories. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1391 012067. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/17426596/1391/1/012067. Gardner (1970). MATHEMATICAL GAMES The fantastic combinations of John Conway's new solitaire game "life". Scientific American, 223, 120-123. Available from: https://web.stanford.edu/class/sts145/Library/li fe.pdf [Accessed 18th July 2021] Veritasium. (2021) Math has a Fatal Flaw. 22nd May. Available from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeQX2HjkcNo
Beverley Gonsalves
St Wilfrid’s RC College
UNCERTAINTY IN THE FUTURE OF PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE Introduction
Findings
Conclusions
Studies conducted in 2018 have published that almost half of UK adults are on at least one prescription drug. This leads us to questioning whether our reliance on drugs is ultimately a threat to public healthcare. It is argued that we should prioritise tackling the root cause of disease to promote better long term quality of life. In this academic poster, I will explore this research question: should modern medicine prioritise preventative healthcare to a greater extent?
Diabetes consumes 10% of the NHS budget. 90% of diabetes cases are caused by Type II diabetes, which is reversible in up to 60% of patients. Prevention towards Type II diabetes includes avoiding sedentary behaviour, eating a healthy diet, and not smoking. Behavioural change is advantageous to prescribed medication as treatment because it promotes a better long-term quality of life. By 2035, 1 in 10 people globally will have diabetes.
Medicine is an ever-evolving field: new treatments are always being developed. Nevertheless, prevention should remain of utmost priority. Healthcare is commonly thought of as an institution set up to treat the unwell, but an effective modern healthcare avoids disease in the first place. Prevention is a costefficient method which increases the availability of medical services in the long-term.
Why is this an important topic? Prescription medications are the third leading cause of death worldwide. Half of those who die do so despite taking their drugs correctly; the other half die due to errors, such as taking too high a dose. Modern medicine is geared towards reactive healthcare; it should be centralised in prevention. The pandemic has re-emphasised the importance of improving baseline population health and reducing health inequalities. Therefore, all individuals who are able to should opt for a diet and lifestyle approach, rather than enduring the side effects of medication. This will promote a significantly better quality of later life. This idea faces opposition from medical device manufacturers because maintaining good health will result in you requiring less medical procedures and devices. Our healthcare system, however, will benefit as prevention alleviates the unnecessary and costly need to treat preventable conditions: studies on public health interventions to prevent smoking and alcohol have shown them to be economically effective for this very reason.
An increased BMI is closely associated with an increased risk in developing Type II diabetes. To tackle diabetes, we must tackle the obesity crisis in England. Efforts have been previously made by the British Government. The Sugar Tax, implemented in April 2018, enforced the taxing of drinks with over 8g of sugar per 100ml at 24p per litre. The tax can be argued as successful: since 2016, the amount of sugar used in drinks each year is 45 million kilograms less. However, price manipulation may be seen as a control tactic. The denying of autonomy Figure 1. Relationship between body can be argued as a regression for a mass index (BMI) and risk for developed society such as the UK. diabetes (BioMed Central, 2014) In addition to a focus on prevention in medicine, we should reduce the overconsumption of prescription medication. Antibiotic overuse causes 700,000 deaths worldwide as it increases the numbers of drug-resistant infections. Public Health England has stated that 20% of all antibiotic prescriptions in England are inappropriate - examples of this include where they are being prescribed to patients suffering coughs, colds, and the flu. Treatment may be considered more successful than prevention as its benefits are realised in a smaller time-frame. For example, a significant effect on obesity as a result of the Sugar Tax may not be seen for more than a decade, in contrast to gastric surgery, a treatment for obesity, which is essentially immediate. Increased funding towards treatment relieves short-term pressures on medical facilities, but failing to invest in prevention will have long-term consequences for the population.
Prioritising prevention is what will help us evolve modern healthcare and live long, healthy lives.
Bibliography
Antibiotic Research UK. About Antibiotic Resistance. [online] Available at: https://www.antibioticresearch.org.uk/aboutantibioticresistance#:~:text=As%20bacteria%20become%20increasingl y%20resistant. GOV.UK. (n.d.). Research reveals levels of inappropriate prescriptions in England. [online] Available at: https:// www.gov.uk/government/news/research-reveals-levels-ofinappropriate-prescriptions-in-england. HM Treasury (2018). Soft Drinks Industry Levy comes into effect. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/soft-drinks-industry-levy-comes-into-effect. Owen, L., Morgan, A., Fischer, A., Ellis, S., Hoy, A. and Kelly, M.P. (2011). The cost-effectiveness of public health interventions. Journal of Public Health, [online] 34(1), pp.37– 45. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/ 34/1/37/1554654. Telegraph.co.uk (2017). Pill nation: half of us take at least one prescription drug daily. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/13/pill-nation-halfus-take-least-one-prescription-drug-daily/. The BMJ. (2016). Peter C Gøtzsche: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death. [online] Available at: https:// blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/06/16/peter-c-gotzsche-prescriptiondrugs-are-the-third-leading-cause-of-death/. www.cbsnews.com. (n.d.). 10 percent of world will have diabetes by 2035: Report. [online] Available at: https:// www.cbsnews.com/news/10-percent-of-world-will-havediabetes-by-2035-report/.
Andras Kuklis & Newcastle-under-Lyme College
How can uncertain factors affect currencies? Uncertainty is common place in the financial world and that is why many are tasked with the difficult job of trying to predict future trends and events. In this poster we aim to find out how uncertain factors can affect currencies?
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This is an important topic as nearly everyone uses currency to pay for goods/services ,so if it is weaker or stronger then that will have an impact on the masses. Many people travel to countries that use foreign currencies in which case it is useful to know what factors of uncertainty can affect these. A few ways that uncertainty can affect currencies is through: •
Uncertainty in confidence of future events as well as speculation can cause currencies to experience a temporary fluctuation. “Currency changes from speculation tend to be irrational, abrupt, and short-lived. For example, traders may devalue a currency based on an election outcome, especially if the result is perceived as unfavourable for trade or economic growth.” (CanAm Currency Exchange, 2020) “We have seen an increase in over-the-counter trading (OTC) volume in February and March of 2020 of digital currencies, ever since the pandemic has become major news around the world. Initially, the digital currency market experienced decreased prices across the board as many investors liquidated their holdings. “ (Shah, 2020) The affect of the pandemic (uncertain event) led investors to sell some crypto currency as well as invest in ‘stablecoin’, which are crypto currencies pegged by fiat currencies (this makes them less volatile).
The effect of uncertain factors on currencies is that they will weaken on the foreign exchange market. When investors are uncertain then they will most likely act in a rational/cautious manner, this means that a country/countries would not have as much capital being invested. In addition to this, their economy/economies would experience capital flight as a result of a weakening currency (even if only due to speculation from investors). Overall, this could lead to a reduction/slow down of economic growth in those affected countries.
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Low confidence in future events leading to temporary devaluation of a currency •
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Pandemic causing many investors to liquidate their holdings in crypto currencies War decreases the value of currencies as well as making them more volatile
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Figure 1 (Gibson, 2021) shows GBP to USD over time “History has shown … resulting from lower interest rates, which inevitably decrease the value of domestic currency. There is also a huge level of uncertainty surrounding such conflicts on future economic expectations and the health of affected nations. Thus, nations that are actively at war experience a higher level of currency volatility compared to those not engaged in conflict. “ (Lioudis, 2019)
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CanAm Currency Exchange. (2020, September 20). 9 factors that influence currency exchange rates. Retrieved from CanAm Currency Exchange: https:// canamcurrencyexchange.com/9-factors-that-influencecurrency-exchange-rates/ Gibson, A. (2021). GBP to USD (all-time highs, lows & forecasts explained). Retrieved from Key Currency: https:// www.keycurrency.co.uk/gbp-to-usd Lioudis, N. (2019, June 25). How global events affect the forex market. Retrieved from Investopedia: https:// www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/11/internationalevents-affect-forex.asp Shah, M. (2020, May 8). How fear and uncertainty affect the crypto markets. Retrieved from Forbes: https:// www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2020/05/08/ how-fear-and-uncertainty-affect-the-crypto-markets/? sh=64219077355b
Katie Winrow, Wigan & Leigh College “To what extent are protagonists of 20th century dystopian literature driven to rebel by uncertainty?” Introduction
Findings
Conclusions
Dystopian settings are rife with uncertainty relating to betrayal and censorship, as vessels for political commentary (Stoner, 2017). Characters’ reactions to the incertitude affect how they cope with their situation, leading some to rebel against often totalitarian regimes.
Rebellion is prevalent in 3 particular 20th century dystopian protagonists: Montag from Fahrenheit 451, Offred from The Handmaid’s Tale and Winston Smith from 1984:
Uncertainty often drives curious dystopian protagonists to rebel. Montag’s fascination with what makes books forbidden and Offred’s interest in what the Commander wants from her show attempts to absolve their uncertainty is what leads to rebellion. However, Winston’s rebellion is led by certainty of his attraction to Julia, quelling fears of punishment. In a paradox, he has certainty of his uncertainty of the regime.
Why this is an important topic Much of 20th century dystopian fiction was inspired by dictatorships like Nazi Germany (Stoner, 2017) built on loyalty from the masses. Adolf Hitler used propaganda to achieve this, seeing opportunity in how “their [the population’s] power of forgetting is enormous” (Hitler, 1943) reflective of dystopian fiction’s themes of censorship to maintain loyalty. A trend in 20th century dystopias was to have a protagonist disillusioned by a regime, resulting in rebellion. While political uncertainty encourages authoritarianism, dystopian fiction explores how uncertainty can consciously challenge such regimes.
Montag has unconscious curiosity about the content of books since his life is devoted to burning them, “It was a pleasure to burn.” This curiosity is fronted by his interaction with Clarisse, who does not force Montag to rebel, but highlights how their society has changed over time. (Linkous, 2020). This raises questions about every aspect of his life, all with uncertain answers. He seeks to shed his uncertainty by reading, despite Captain Beatty’s attempts to discourage this. Books seem to be a symbol for the problems with society. Reading into them is a method of rebellion fuelled by Montag’s uncertainty. As a woman relegated only to give birth by a sexist, orthodox regime, much of the world is forbidden to Offred. When an opportunity is offered by the Commander to talk to him alone, she begins to consider what questions she has about his office and broadly the male world of Gilead. “What secrets, what male totems are kept in here?” A desire to discover what Gilead kept her sheltered from motivates her to cross the threshold into the role of a rebel, a desire caused by her uncertainty about the regime. In a review of ‘We’ by Zamyatin, Orwell (1949) explains how dystopian stories “deal with the rebellion of the primitive human spirit against a rationalized, mechanized, painless world”. The setting of Oceania in 1984 is in reality far from ‘painless’ but the Party paints it as perfect, and the masses believe such propaganda. In Winston’s ‘primitive human’ love for Julia being the root of his rebellion, there’s a counter argument to the idea that 20th century dystopian protagonists rebel because of uncertainty. Winston rebels because of certainty in his affection for Julia. This is shown in his “admiration for the gesture with which she had thrown her clothes aside” described as a single, certain movement. This becomes evidence to him, at least while dreaming, that her attraction to him is irrefutable.
Bibliography • • • •
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Atwood, M. (1996). The Handmaid's tale. London, Vintage. Bradbury, R. (1999). Fahrenheit 451. London, Flamingo. Hitler, A. (1943). Mein Kampf, translated by Ralph Manheim. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company. Linkous, H. (2020). Examining Self-Directed Learning in Fahrenheit 451. International Journal of Self-Directed Learning, [online] 17(1), pp.51-61. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341879400_S elfdirected_learning_A_qualitative_study_of_doctoral_stud ent_experiences> [Accessed 13 March 2021]. Orwell, G. (1949). Review of We. Bull Tribute: 4 th Jan 1949. London. Orwell, G. (2000). 1984. London, Penguin. Stoner, P. (2017). Dystopian Literature: Evolution of Dystopian Literature From We to the Hunger Games. Merge: The W’s Undergraduate Research Journal. [online] 1, p.13. Available at: <https://athenacommons.muw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?a rticle=1003&context=merge> [Accessed 12 April 2021].