The socio-economic boundaries shaping young people’s lunchtime food practices on a school day

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wendy J. Wills, Giada Danesi, Ariadne B. Kapetanaki, and Laura K. Hamilton, ‘The Socio‐Economic Boundaries Shaping Young People's Lunchtime Food Practices on a School Day’, Children & Society, Vol. 32 (3): 195-206, May 2018, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12261. Under embargo until 6 April 2019. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Not enough is known about the relationship between socio-economic deprivation and places where young people purchase food at lunchtime on a school day. This paper draws on qualitative data from 600+ young people aged 13-15 years and illustrates that socio-economic factors form boundaries that young people have a feeling for when buying food. This informs where they seek out lunch (at school or in local food outlets) and what products, service and prices they access and find acceptable. Such insights help to understand why inequalities in young people’s health and eating practices prevail.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The zebrafish as a model for pink1/gba1 deficiency

We examine whether church attendance is related to intergenerational support from children to older parents in Italy. First, we focus on the role of church attendance on different forms of assistance, by distinguishing between practical support and personal assistance. Second, we attempt to disentangle the role of church attendance from that of traditionalism. We analyse data from the ISTAT survey \u2018Family and Social Subject\u2019 2003 using multinomial logistic regression models and the KHB method for the decomposition of direct and indirect effects. Results show the existence of an association between church attendance and the probability of providing practical support to older parents, whereas there is no association with personal assistance. Regular churchgoers are more likely to provide practical support to their parents than the non-catholic, with occasional churchgoers falling somewhere in between. We find little support to the hypothesis that the association between religious practices and intergenerational support is explained by traditional family attitudes, although more traditional children are more likely to live with their parents. In the discussion, we argue that church attendance offers the opportunity for adult children to learn pro-family teachings that are positively related to supportive behaviors in later life

Building back normal? An investigation of practice changes in the charitable and on-the-go food provision sectors through COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about debates on rethinking food and other socio-technical systems. While swiftly re-establishing normality has understandable appeal in a crisis, the landscape-level changes during the pandemic also hold windows of opportunity to “build back better” and to achieve sustainability transitions. In this article, we ask whether a cycle of disruption and adaptation results either in the rise of more sustainable niche practices or the consolidation of the socio-technical regimes in place. To approach this question, we consider the specific cases of charitable and on-the-go food provision and examine the extent to which COVID-induced adaptations have resulted in debates about, and implementations of, more just and sustainable practices. We draw on systems transitions and practice theoretical approaches to elucidate dynamics and elasticity and thus the effect of socio-technical practice changes. After describing the pre-COVID food regimes, we evaluate organizational practice adaptations during the lockdowns with regard to (1) changing cultural images of food security and provision, (2) socio-technical innovations, and (3) new forms of governance. We find that rather than justifying the public and policy frame of “building back better,” the effect of recovery measures reinforces the socio-technical regimes and omits wider sectoral and societal sustainability challenges such as the systemic reduction of poverty and waste

Building back normal? An investigation of practice changes in the charitable and on-the-go food provision sectors through COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about debates on rethinking food and other socio-technical systems. While swiftly re-establishing normality has understandable appeal in a crisis, the landscape-level changes during the pandemic also hold windows of opportunity to “build back better” and to achieve sustainability transitions. In this article, we ask whether a cycle of disruption and adaptation results either in the rise of more sustainable niche practices or the consolidation of the socio-technical regimes in place. To approach this question, we consider the specific cases of charitable and on-the-go food provision and examine the extent to which COVID-induced adaptations have resulted in debates about, and implementations of, more just and sustainable practices. We draw on systems transitions and practice theoretical approaches to elucidate dynamics and elasticity and thus the effect of socio-technical practice changes. After describing the pre-COVID food regimes, we evaluate organizational practice adaptations during the lockdowns with regard to (1) changing cultural images of food security and provision, (2) socio-technical innovations, and (3) new forms of governance. We find that rather than justifying the public and policy frame of “building back better,” the effect of recovery measures reinforces the socio-technical regimes and omits wider sectoral and societal sustainability challenges such as the systemic reduction of poverty and waste

Creating a WhatsApp Dataset to Study Pre-teen Cyberbullying

Although WhatsApp is used by teenagers as one major channel of cyberbullying, such interactions remain invisible due to the app privacy policies that do not allow ex-post data collection. Indeed, most of the information on these phenomena rely on surveys regarding self-reported data. In order to overcome this limitation, we describe in this paper the activities that led to the creation of a WhatsApp dataset to study cyberbullying among Italian students aged 12-13. We present not only the collected chats with annotations about user role and type of offense, but also the living lab created in a collaboration between researchers and schools to monitor and analyse cyberbullying. Finally, we discuss some open issues, dealing with ethical, operational and epistemic aspects

Efficacy and safety of extracranial vein angioplasty in multiple sclerosis: A randomized clinical trial

Importance: Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is characterized by restricted venous outflow from the brain and spinal cord. Whether this condition is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) and whether venous percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is beneficial in persons with MS and CCSVI is controversial. Objective: To determine the efficacy and safety of venous PTA in patients with MS and CCSVI. Design, Setting, and Participants: We analyzed 177 patients with relapsing-remitting MS; 62 were ineligible, including 47 (26.6%) who did not have CCSVI on color Doppler ultrasonography screening. A total of 115 patients were recruited in the study timeframe. All patients underwent a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel-group trial in 6MS centers in Italy. The trial began in August 2012 and concluded in March 2016; data were analyzed from April 2016 to September 2016. The analysis was intention to treat. Interventions: Patients were randomly allocated (2:1) to either venous PTA or catheter venography without venous angioplasty (sham). Main Outcomes and Measures: Two primary end pointswere assessed at 12 months: (1) a composite functional measure (ie, walking control, balance, manual dexterity, postvoid residual urine volume, and visual acuity) and (2) a measure of new combined brain lesions on magnetic resonance imaging, including the proportion of lesion-free patients. Combined lesions included T1 gadolinium-enhancing lesions plus new or enlarged T2 lesions. Results: Of the included 115 patients with relapsing-remitting MS, 76 were allocated to the PTA group (45 female [59%]; mean [SD] age, 40.0 [10.3] years) and 39 to the sham group (29 female [74%]; mean [SD] age, 37.5 [10.6] years); 112 (97.4%) completed follow-up. No serious adverse events occurred. Flow restoration was achieved in 38 of 71 patients (54%) in the PTA group. The functional composite measure did not differ between the PTA and sham groups (41.7%vs 48.7%; odds ratio, 0.75; 95%CI, 0.34-1.68; P = .49). The mean (SD) number of combined lesions on magnetic resonance imaging at 6 to 12 months were 0.47 (1.19) in the PTA group vs 1.27 (2.65) in the sham group (mean ratio, 0.37; 95%CI, 0.15-0.91; P = .03: adjusted P = .09) and were 1.40 (4.21) in the PTA group vs 1.95 (3.73) in the sham group at 0 to 12 months (mean ratio, 0.72; 95%CI, 0.32-1.63; P = .45; adjusted P = .45). At follow-up after 6 to 12 months, 58 of 70 patients (83%) in the PTA group and 22 of 33 (67%) in the sham group were free of new lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (odds ratio, 2.64; 95%CI, 1.11-6.28; P = .03; adjusted P = .09). At 0 to 12 months, 46 of 73 patients (63.0%) in the PTA group and 18 of 37 (49%) in the sham group were free of new lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (odds ratio, 1.80; 95%CI, 0.81-4.01; P = .15; adjusted P = .30). Conclusion and Relevance: Venous PTA has proven to be a safe but largely ineffective technique; the treatment cannot be recommended in patients with MS

Charitable Food Provision as a Strategic Action Field

Building on interviews and archival data, I argue that the charitable food provision (CFP) sector can be interpreted as a strategic action field (SAF). I first illustrate the shared rules, understandings and practices characterising the organizations that belong to the field, and the broader field environment that imposes constraints and provides opportunities to field actors. I then examine the characteristics of four, more relevant, charities to describe the power relationships between the incumbent, the challengers and what I call the sideliners of the field, and illustrate the field effects of the campaign carried out by a ‘socially skilled actor’ soon after the COVID-19 outbreak. Finally, I highlight how field theories contribute to understand the emergence and consolidation of food charities in the UK and beyond