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Microplastics in human urine: characterisation using μFTIR and sampling challenges using healthy donors and endometriosis participantsMicroplastics (MPs) are found in all environments, within the human food chain, and have been recently detected in several human tissues. The objective herein was to undertake an analysis of MP contamination in human urine samples, from healthy individuals and participants with endometriosis, with respect to their presence, levels, and the characteristics of any particles identified. A total of 38 human urine samples and 15 procedural blanks were analysed. MPs were characterised using μFTIR spectroscopy (size limitation of 5 μm) and SEM-EDX. In total, 123 MP particles consisting of 22 MP polymer types were identified within 17/29 of the healthy donor (10 mL) urine samples, compared with 232 MP particles of differing 16 MP polymer types in 12/19 urine samples from participants with endometriosis. Healthy donors presented an unadjusted average of 2589 ± 2931 MP/L and participants with endometriosis presented 4724 ± 9710 MP/L. Polyethylene (PE)(27%), polystyrene (PS)(16%), resin and polypropylene (PP)(both 12%) polymer types were most abundant in healthy donor samples, compared with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (59%), and PE (16%) in samples from endometriosis participants. The MP levels within healthy and endometriosis participant samples were not significantly different. However, the predominant polymer types varied, and the MPs from the metal catheter-derived endometriosis participant samples and healthy donors were significantly smaller than those observed in the procedural blanks. The procedural blank samples comprised 62 MP particles of 10 MP polymer types, mainly PP (27%), PE (21%), and PS (15%) with a mean ± SD of 17 ± 18, highlighting the unavoidable contamination inherent in measurement of MPs from donors. This is the first evidence of MP contamination in human urine with polymer characterisation and accounting for procedural blanks. These results support the phenomenon of transport of MPs within humans, specifically to the bladder, and their characterisation of types, shapes and size ranges identified therein.
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Engaging young people with sexual health services in general practice surgeries: a qualitative study of health care professionalsEvidence to date suggests that young people are becoming more sexually active and are forming relationships during the early stages of their lives, sometimes engaging in sexual risk-taking, which contributes to high rates of conception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Young people at risk of adverse sexual health outcomes are the least likely to engage with reproductive and sexual health promotion programmes and services (RSHPPs), especially in mainstream clinics such as general practice (GP) surgeries. The study aimed to explore the views and experiences of service providers. A qualitative approach to explore the views and experiences of designing and implementing RSHPPs for young people in GP surgeries was used. A total of seven participants were interviewed, including four general practitioners (GPs), two of whom were managers at the practice; one nurse; one healthcare and support worker; and one practice manager. The context of RSHPPs such as local health priorities and partnerships to address STIs and unplanned pregnancies among young people contribute to the implementation and engagement of young people with RSHPPs. Training of GPs, nurses, and support workers helps develop confidence and overcome personal factors by promoting effective engagement of young people with RSHPPs. Addressing local health priorities such as reducing teenage pregnancies and STIs requires organisations to provide RSHPPs in both non-clinical and clinical settings to ensure that RSHPPs are accessible to young people. There is room for improvement in access to RSH for young people in GP surgeries by addressing organisational and structural barriers to access.
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A privacy-preserving approach to effectively utilize distributed data for malaria image detectionMalaria is one of the life-threatening disease caused by the parasite knows as Plasmodium falciparum affecting the human red blood cells. Therefore, it is an important to have an effective computer aided system in place for early detection and treatment. As the visual heterogeneity of the malaria dataset is highly complex and dynamic, therefore higher number of images are needed to train the machine learning (ML) models effectively. However, hospitals as well as medical institutions do not share the medical image data for collaboration due to general data protection regulation (GDPR) and data protection act (DPA). To overcome this collaborative challenge, our research utilised real-time medical image data using framework of federated learning (FL) framework. We have used the state of the art ML models that include the Resnet50 and densenet in a federated learning framework. We have experimented both models in different settings on malaria dataset constituting 27,560 publicly available images and our preliminary results showed that the densenet model performed better in accuracy (75%) in contrast to resnet50 (72%) while considering 8 clients, while the trend is observed common in 4 clients with the similar accuracy of 94% and 6 client showed that the densenet model performed quite well with the accuracy of 92% while resnet50 achieving only 72%. The federated learning framework enhances the accuracy due to it’s decentralised nature, continuous learning, effective communication among clients as well as the efficient local adaptation. The use of federated learning architecture among the distinct clients for ensuring the data privacy and following the GDPR is the contribution of this research work.
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Relational wellbeing in the lives of young refugeesThis book is a Special Issue Reprint. In it we consider the ways in which a relational wellbeing approach can be used to understand the lives and trajectories of refugees in general and young refugees in particular. We mainly focus on the lives of young adults who came to the global North as unaccompanied children—that is, without an adult responsible for them when they claimed asylum. Many of the papers report from the Drawing Together project (see https://www.drawingtogetherproject.org/, accessed on 11 January 2024). The project focus is on ‘relational wellbeing’ for young refugees—that is, wellbeing that is experienced through actions that repair and amplify a sense of responsibility they and other people have to each other. Hospitality and reciprocity emerge through small acts of fellowship. In time, these build patterns of exchanges between young refugees and those important to them, leading to a mutual sense of ‘having enough’, ‘being connected’, and ‘feeling good’ (White and Jha 2020). This is wellbeing as a shared endeavour. Overall, the project and many contributions in this Special Issue stand at the conjunction between fields of research into wellbeing and refugee studies. The papers span contexts and countries, offering a sense of an international array of experiences, joined by an issue of supra-national importance—that is, the ways interaction and relationality mediate the experiences of becoming and being a refugee.
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An exploration of factors influencing the recent levels of incarceration of girls in England and WalesThis study seeks to highlight the existing gaps in understanding the imprisonment of girls in England and Wales. The relatively small number of girls in the youth justice system, further marginalised within custody, exacerbates the fact that they are overlooked by the penal system in both policy and practice. Compared to boys, the number of girls in the justice system and custody is low, but their particular vulnerabilities and aetiology of offending justify their consideration from a gendered perspective. The damaging effects of custody on girls during and after their release underline the argument that incarceration should be kept at an absolute minimum. Since the early 1990s, shifting systemic responses have produced substantial fluctuations in the levels of criminalisation of girls, which have been even more pronounced for their levels of incarceration. While the overall numbers were much lower, the dramatic proportionate increase and subsequent decline in numbers were more marked than similar trends for their male counterparts. This systemic dynamic has received less attention than other aspects of girls’ involvement in the penal system and represents a significant gap in youth justice scholarship. This thesis seeks to explain the shifting levels of custody for girls by exploring a range of factors and gendered dynamics that have influenced these trends. This thesis provides an analytical account of custody trends over the past three decades, considering the socio-political context, changing public perceptions and narratives, and how these dynamics have influenced policy, practice and professional culture. By drawing on the research literature, analysis of legislative and policy developments, and the views of a wide range of professionals, this study integrates empirical findings with existing theoretical concepts to engender original insights into the phenomenon under investigation. The current low levels of penal incarceration of girls are certainly welcome but have further engendered a vacuum of strategic attention for girls at a time when the youth justice system is otherwise ripe for potential reform. To guard against a future increase in incarceration, the factors driving these systemic dynamics must be recognised from a gendered perspective to inform a gender-responsive and effective decarcerative strategy. Without an understanding of what explains the extent to which custody is used for females in the youth justice system, there is a perpetual risk of a future upward spiral of hyper-custodial inflation for girls.