Atherosclerosis is a disease of the arteries. It leads to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques (atheromas), which may disrupt the blood flow to target organs, leading to heart disease and stroke - the most common causes of death in developed countries. Cardiovascular imaging has traditionally focused on the anatomy of the atherosclerotic plaque; however, the degree of vessel narrowing caused by the plaque isn’t the only characteristic that can determine the clinical outcome. Indeed, the cellular and molecular composition of the atheroma can indicate whether the plaque might cause complications. In particular the local immune-inflammatory response participates from the onset of the pathology through its progression, up to clinical manifestations. Consequently the development of innovative approaches for the molecular imaging of inflammation in atherosclerosis would be key to improve diagnosis and treatment. In the last decade molecular imaging has emerged as a novel tool for the visualization and measurement of biological processes in atheromas. Various imaging technologies have been developed; however, each approach presents severe weaknesses. Surface Enhancement Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is developing as an effective molecular imaging optical modality in biomedicine because it offers many advantages over traditional technologies, including better sensitivity, and a superior multiplexing capability. Therefore, the primary aim of the present proposal is to develop innovative, highly-sensitive and selective but relatively affordable SERS-based system to measure inflammation in atherosclerotic vessels. I will use nanoparticles (NPs), small metallic particles, which possess the ability to recognise inflammatory markers, as imaging probes. When a light source is shone on these NPs, they can be detected by SERS. The secondary aim is to customise the NPs to enable local treatment of the pathology. The proposed approaches will offer new ways to manage atherosclerosis.

MRes in Management

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

THE PROBLEM There is strong evidence that the social and economic conditions in which we grow, live, work and age determine our health to a much larger degree than lifestyle choices. These social determinants of health, such as income, good quality homes, education or work, are not distributed equally in society, which leads to health inequalities. However, we know very little about how specific policies influence the social conditions to prevent ill health and reduce health inequalities. Also, most social determinants of health are the responsibility of policy sectors other than "health", which means policymakers need to promote health in ALL their policies if they are to have a big impact on health. SIPHER will provide new scientific evidence and methods to support such a shift from "health policy" to "healthy public policy". OUR POLICY FOCUS We will work with three policy partners at local, regional and national level to tackle their above-average chronic disease burden and persistent health inequalities: Sheffield City Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Scottish Government. We will focus on four jointly agreed policy priorities for good health: - Creating a fairer economy - Promoting mental wellbeing - Providing affordable, good quality housing - Preventing long-term effects of difficult childhoods. OUR COMPLEX SYSTEMS SCIENCE APPROACH Each of the above policy areas is a complex political system with many competing priorities, where policy choices in one sector (e.g. housing) can have large unintended effects in others (e.g. poverty). There is often no "correct" solution because compromises between different outcomes require value judgements. This means that to assess the true benefits and costs of a policy in relation to health, policy effects and their interdependencies need to be assessed across a wide range of possible outcomes. However, no policymaker has knowledge of the whole system and future economic and political developments are uncertain. Ongoing monitoring of expected and unexpected effects of policies and other system changes is crucial so failing policies can be revised or dropped. We propose to use complex systems modelling, which has been developed to understand and make projections of what might happen in complex systems given different plausible assumptions about future developments. Our models will be underpinned by the best available data and prior research in each policy area. Our new evidence about likely policy effects across a wide range of outcomes will help policy partners decide between alternative policies, depending on how important different outcomes are to them (e.g. improving health or economic growth). We will develop support tools that can visualise the forecasts, identify policies that achieve the desired balance between competing outcomes and update recommendations when new information emerges. Whilst new to public health policy, these methods are well-established in engineering and climate science. We will 1. Work with policy partners to understand the policy systems and evidence needs 2. Bring together existing data and evidence on each policy system (e.g. links between policies and outcomes, interdependencies between outcomes) 3. Explore citizens' preferences for prioritising when not all outcomes can be achieved 4. Link policies and their health and non-health effects in computer models to analyse benefits and costs over time 5. Build an interactive tool to help policy decision-making, inform advocacy action and support political debate. SIPHER's MAIN OUTCOME We will provide policymakers with a new methodology that allows them to estimate the health-related costs and benefits of policies that are implemented outside the health sector. This will be useful to our partners, and others, who want to assess how scarce public sector resources can be spent to maximise the health and wellbeing benefits from all their activities.

The Erskine family correspondence is an extraordinary archival treasure trove, largely overlooked in accounts of the Early Modern period. This thesis will unlock this outstanding cache of le@ers and thus cover new, important, archival ground. Its substanGve findings will provide fresh insight into language and society at a key period of Sco2sh history (the ReformaGon, Covenanters, Civil War) and highlight the life and disGncGve epistolary voice of the remarkable countess of Mar. It will emphasise the implicaGons of editorial decision-making for language-idenGty formaGon today, as we look towards a future where more Sco2sh archives are made accessible.