The purpose of this study is to better understand the ways in which scientific discourse contributes to the individualization and moralization of obesity, through reality television. Popular reality television programs emphasize the importance of lifestyle to health and wellness, often focusing on participant weight loss. Within this research, I describe the ways in which the obesity epidemic is approached in popular reality television, specifically in NBCs The Biggest Loser, and identify how the discourse of obesity is tied to issues of individualization, surveillance, and morality. Specifically, I undertake a laboratory study of The Biggest Loser to illustrate how this methodology can be extended from the traditional laboratory into a space of science that has no formal walls. With a focus on the seventh season of The Biggest Loser, I argue that the program is based on a human experiment that illustrates the interconnectedness of science and society, while perpetuating individualized and moralized obesity discourse. By conducting a laboratory study of a popular television program, I offer a new way to address obesity discourse

The purpose of this study is to better understand the ways in which scientific discourse contributes to the individualization and moralization of obesity, through reality television. Popular reality television programs emphasize the importance of lifestyle to health and wellness, often focusing on participant weight loss. Within this research, I describe the ways in which the obesity epidemic is approached in popular reality television, specifically in NBCs The Biggest Loser, and identify how the discourse of obesity is tied to issues of individualization, surveillance, and morality. Specifically, I undertake a laboratory study of The Biggest Loser to illustrate how this methodology can be extended from the traditional laboratory into a space of science that has no formal walls. With a focus on the seventh season of The Biggest Loser, I argue that the program is based on a human experiment that illustrates the interconnectedness of science and society, while perpetuating individualized and moralized obesity discourse. By conducting a laboratory study of a popular television program, I offer a new way to address obesity discourse

Magister Scientiae (Medical Bioscience) - MSc(MBS) / Laboratory studies, epidemiological investigations and human clinical trials indicate that flavonoids have important effects on cancer chemoprevention and therapy. Flavonoids may interfere in several steps that lead to cancer development but may also lead to toxicity as the inhibition of carcinogen-activating enzymes may also cause potential toxic flavonoid-drug interactions. However, the potential toxicity of these dietary components has not been well studied. The use of polyphenol enriched supplements prepared from South African herbal teas, rooibos(Aspalathus linearis)and honeybush (Cyclopia spp.) are being marketed to alleviate symptoms that are known to be “cured” by the herbal teas. However, there is a lack of information regarding the possible health promoting effects of these polyphenol-enriched extracts on xenobiotic metabolism. In the present study, the modulating effects of aspalathinenriched rooibos and mangiferin-enriched C. genistoides and C. subternata extracts on the gene expression of xenobiotic metabolising enzymes (XMEs) were investigated in vivo in the rat liver and kidneys. An in vitro study, utilising a primary rat hepatocyte cell model, was included to further evaluate changes in the expression of selected XMEs by the herbal tea extracts, including their major polyphenolic constituents, aspalathin and mangiferin. The use of the in vitro primary hepatocytes assay as a predictive cell model for the modulation of the expression of XMEs genes by the herbal tea extracts in vivo was critically evaluated.In the liver and kidneys, the C. subternata polyphenol-enriched herbal tea extract effected the majority of changes regarding the expression of XMEs genes when compared to the rooibos and C. genistoides. Variations in the modulation of gene expression of the XMEs by the herbal tea extracts were related to differences in their polyphenol constituents, although non-polyphenolic constituent could also be involved.Overall the herbal teas regulated alcohol,energy, drug and steroid metabolism in the liver, whereas in the kidneys the gene expression of phase I, phase II, steroid metabolising enzymes, as well as drug transporters were modulated. It would appear that the herbal teas are likely to exhibit both beneficial and adverse effects in vivo,depending on the specific organ, the xenobiotic and/or drug that are involved. The primary rat hepatocytes model display varying effects with respect to modulating gene expression of specific XMEs by the polyphenol-enriched herbal tea extracts. Apart from the reduction in 17 -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase gene expression care should be taken to directly extrapolate the in vitro findings to changes that prevail in vivo.However, interesting results regarding the masking effect of complex mixture on the modulation of XME gene expression of individual polyphenols were encountered. In addition differences in the dose and duration of exposure between the in vitro and in vivo studies were not comparable and should be further explored to validate the in vitro primary hepatocytes model to predict changes in vivo. Future studies should investigate the effects of the herbal tea extracts, its polyphenols and metabolites on XME induction at a protein level as well as varying herb-drug-enzyme interactions.

Yes / Understanding the dynamic free surface of geophysical flows has the potential to enable direct inference of the flow properties based on measurements of the free surface. An important step is to understand the inherent response of free surfaces in depth-limited flows. Here a model is presented to demonstrate that free surface oscillatory spatial correlation patterns result from individual surface features oscillating vertically as they advect over space and time. Comparison with laboratory observations shows that these oscillating surface features can be unambiguously explained by simple harmonic motion, whereby the oscillation frequency is controlled by the root-mean-square water surface fluctuation, and to a lesser extent the surface tension. This demonstrates that the observed “complex” wave pattern can be simply described as an ensemble of spatially and temporally distributed oscillons. Similarities between the oscillon frequency and estimated frequency of near-bed bursting events suggest that oscillon behaviour is linked with the creation of coherent flow structures.

This thesis presents the findings from an ethnography of stem cell science based on fieldwork with researchers in two connected laboratories in Scotland and the United States. It explores stem cell scientists' complicated interactions with live stem cell cultures within national projects of translational regenerative medicine. This analysis both draws upon and contributes to the social studies of biomedicine, reproductive studies and science and technology studies. I examine how stem cell scientists, involved in an international research initiative, navigate the challenging landscapes of translational regenerative medicine and attempt to transform fragile live cell cultures into successful biotechnical, medical and economic products. By considering translational regenerative medicine as an effort to reformulate the relationship between biology and technology in terms of applicability and utility, I illuminate tensions between the specific practices of care that enable stem cell growth in vitro and the elusive goals of national projects of biotechnological innovation. A major focus of this study is the means by which scientists in the two laboratories manage the inherent uncertainties of both cell culture and translational science. By exploring how researchers react to unstable and unpredictable cellular behaviour in the laboratory, while also managing the expectations of government and external funding bodies, I provide a portrait of the complex sociality of contemporary bioscience. In addition to the international collaboration between the two laboratories, I explore scientists' interdisciplinary work with medical specialists and public engagement with stakeholders in regenerative medicine. In doing so, I pay attention to the ways in which scientists themselves deal with and reflect on the relational and interdependent nature of their endeavours. Drawing on twenty-two months of ethnographic fieldwork and fifty qualitative interviews, I show how stem cell scientists' new engagement practices also inform scientific work and the care of stem cells in the laboratory. In short, I argue that translation of science across different sites at once creates and depends on new social relations between stem cells, people and communities. After providing an overview of the literature, central questions and methodology that frame this thesis, I introduce the opportunities and challenges that translational regenerative medicine goals create for the care of stem cells in vitro. From there, I zoom out beyond the tissue culture flask to demonstrate how the necessity for science applicability creates new responsibilities for scientists to connect with stakeholders in regenerative medicine outside of the laboratory. I conclude that a consideration of scientists' ties and societal links is significant for an understanding of the connection between the biological and the technological.

The survival of three enteroviruses (polio 1, coxsackie B3 and echo 1) and a rotavirus (SA-11) was studied under laboratory conditions. The effects of temperature, dissolved oxygen, detention time, sludge source and virus type on virus inactivation were determined. Temperature was the single most important factor influencing the rate of virus inactivation. No significant differences were found for virus inactivation rates at dissolved oxygen levels between 0.9 and 5.8 mg/l. However, the inactivation rate of the viruses under aerobic conditions was found to be significantly greater than the inactivation rate under anaerobic conditions (−0.77log10/day vs −0.33 log10/day). Sludge source, detention time and virus type did not significantly influence the rate of virus inactivation.

Although it is broadly acknowledged that democratic politics should operate through the public competition of binding positions, the careful development of these positions is commonly neglected. Providing ethnographic analysis of the work of staff advisers in parliamentary groups, the paper explores the invisible work invested into these competing positions. We argue that the invisibilization of work serves to accomplish a central tenet of democratic political discourse: the demonstration of resonance between constituents and elected politicians. The latter may be assisted by – but must not depend on – non-elected staff. Against this ‘sacred’ premise of representative democracy, the paper shows that and how political positions are based on invisible work and the work of invisibilizing. Building on laboratory and workplace studies, we specify the shape and function of invisibility by contrasting studies on invisible work in the natural sciences, in case law, and in party politics. In these instances, invisible work serves different discursive objects-in-formation: scientific facts, legal cases, and binding positions. Understanding invisible work, thus, leads us to consider different constitutive relevancies. In turn, these serve to specify established concepts in STS, such as ‘controversy,’ to better distinguish the day-to-day conduct of natural science from that of politics or law.