Opinion dynamics is the study of how people’s opinions may change as they interact with
others in a population. This is conventionally studied by modelling people as interacting
agents with mathematical rules governing their behaviour. The field is characterised by an
uncoordinated approach to the creation of new models and rules, with no reference to a
unified general framework. This results in a large amount of duplicated work, even as a
significant portion...
Background: Muscle wasting in ageing (sarcopenia) is a significant public health concern, culminating in weakness, frailty and loss of independence. Despite several decades of research using model organisms, animals and two dimensional (2D) muscle cell cultures, there remains no cure or treatment for muscle wasting. Animal models and cells do not represent human muscle ageing and disease, while 2D models do not recapitulate the 3D structure of muscle tissue and lack the m...
Auxetic materials have a negative Poisson’s ratio; they get thinner when compressed and thicker when stretched, which can lead to improved mechanical properties such as increased energy absorption and resistance to indentation. A potential application of these materials is protective sport equipment, where impact forces, and hence the risk of injury, can be reduced. Existing work shows this potential but involves time-consuming development and experimental testing of material samples. The aim ...
Hyperglycaemia and tubulointerstitial fibrosis in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells.
F Alsehli, N Ahmed and L Shalamanova
Centre for Biomedicine, School of Healthcare Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Background: Renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis (TIF) is the hallmark of chronic and end-stage renal disease. Around 40% of the diabetic patients develop diabetic nephropathy which is characterised by abnormal accumulation of extrac...