On Intolerance and Immigration: Understanding Perceptions of Intra- and Extradiversity in Denmark and Canada

The increasing pace of immigration to the Western world and the subsequent xenophobic backlashes to immigrants has created an urgent need for empirical research that examines the dynamics of immigration and xenophobia. This project addresses that dynamic through a comparative analysis of Denmark and Canada, whose histories since World War II have shaped both official responses and dominant discourses in ways that position the two countries at near opposite ends of the spectrum of immigration responses in the Western world. Moving away from linear, macro-level models employed in most immigration research, this project employs methods triangulation. It uses both qualitative and quantitative data to explore the hypothesis that the perceived level of diversity – of the 'self' and the 'other' – is instrumental in shaping the dynamics within which discourses and attitudes about immigration are negotiated. The research findings support the diversity hypothesis while also causing us to expand on it: not only is the receiving population's negotiation of the national identity vis a vis diversity central in shaping responses to immigration, but the nature of the distinction between the 'self' and the 'other' is instrumental in this negotiation process. Furthermore, the level of society from which the identity negotiation process stems - whether group-based or focused on the individual - plays a large role in shaping the responses to immigration

Distinctions between experiences of anger and sadness in children's and adolescents' narrative accounts of peer injury

Children’s varied emotions following peer injury may reflect distinct ways of understanding and coping with such events. This study examined how children’s references to anger and sadness in their accounts of peer injury were differentially related to narrative descriptions of their motivations, interpretations, evaluations, and behavioral responses, as well as the relationships in which harm occurred. We also explored how these associations between emotions and other narrative elements varied with age. The study was based on a corpus of 275 transcripts of oral narratives recounted by equal numbers of boys and girls across three age groups: 7, 11, and 16 years. In line with functionalist theories, anger was uniquely linked to maximizing attributions, indignation, and aggression, after accounting for age and gender. Sadness was related to harm in close relationships and relational goals, underlining the value placed on relationships with the offender, as well as a sense of powerlessness and confusion. Some associations between emotions and other narrative elements varied with age, suggesting that children’s experiences of anger and sadness became increasingly agentic and relationally oriented. Findings suggest how narrative constructions of meaning about peer injury may serve as contexts for reflecting on how anger and sadness emerge from and are resolved through interpersonal relationships

Impact of primary kidney disease on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease: secondary analyses of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial

Background: The EMPA KIDNEY trial showed that empagliflozin reduced the risk of the primary composite outcome of kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease mainly through slowing progression. We aimed to assess how effects of empagliflozin might differ by primary kidney disease across its broad population. Methods: EMPA-KIDNEY, a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial, was conducted at 241 centres in eight countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and the USA). Patients were eligible if their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 20 to less than 45 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or 45 to less than 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) of 200 mg/g or higher at screening. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to 10 mg oral empagliflozin once daily or matching placebo. Effects on kidney disease progression (defined as a sustained ≥40% eGFR decline from randomisation, end-stage kidney disease, a sustained eGFR below 10 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or death from kidney failure) were assessed using prespecified Cox models, and eGFR slope analyses used shared parameter models. Subgroup comparisons were performed by including relevant interaction terms in models. EMPA-KIDNEY is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594110. Findings: Between May 15, 2019, and April 16, 2021, 6609 participants were randomly assigned and followed up for a median of 2·0 years (IQR 1·5–2·4). Prespecified subgroupings by primary kidney disease included 2057 (31·1%) participants with diabetic kidney disease, 1669 (25·3%) with glomerular disease, 1445 (21·9%) with hypertensive or renovascular disease, and 1438 (21·8%) with other or unknown causes. Kidney disease progression occurred in 384 (11·6%) of 3304 patients in the empagliflozin group and 504 (15·2%) of 3305 patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·71 [95% CI 0·62–0·81]), with no evidence that the relative effect size varied significantly by primary kidney disease (pheterogeneity=0·62). The between-group difference in chronic eGFR slopes (ie, from 2 months to final follow-up) was 1·37 mL/min per 1·73 m2 per year (95% CI 1·16–1·59), representing a 50% (42–58) reduction in the rate of chronic eGFR decline. This relative effect of empagliflozin on chronic eGFR slope was similar in analyses by different primary kidney diseases, including in explorations by type of glomerular disease and diabetes (p values for heterogeneity all >0·1). Interpretation: In a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease at risk of progression, including a wide range of non-diabetic causes of chronic kidney disease, empagliflozin reduced risk of kidney disease progression. Relative effect sizes were broadly similar irrespective of the cause of primary kidney disease, suggesting that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of a standard of care to minimise risk of kidney failure in chronic kidney disease. Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and UK Medical Research Council