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Stephens N. Join our team, change the world: edibility, producibility and food futures in cultured meat company recruitment videos. FOOD, CULTURE, & SOCIETY 2022; 25:32-48. [PMID: 35177960 PMCID: PMC8842710 DOI: 10.1080/15528014.2021.1884787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Cultured meat is a novel technology that uses tissue engineering to expand cells taken from animals to grow muscle for consumption as food. Those supporting the technology anticipate it could radically disrupt livestock farming with, they propose, significant benefits for the environment, human health, and animal wellbeing. This paper examines the emergence of this sector through the prism of one of the leading companies - Memphis Meats - in particular focusing upon their online recruitment activity in online videos. Founded in 2015, by 2020 they had announced investment of over $160 m to build a pilot-plant and recruit staff to bring cultured meat closer to commercialization. This paper argues the company's recruitment videos work to enact what I term "producibility", a concept aligned to existing work on "edibility", that emphasizes the process of becoming that foodstuff (included novel foodstuffs) undergo. I deploy existing theoretical work on multiple categories of futures - big/little, individual/institutional/field - to analyze Memphis Meats' online recruitment activity. I argue that, by entangling science and food futures, the company's videos work to assert the status and politics of cultured meat, render it producible and edible, and articulate a novel and transformative food-professional identity: the cultured meat producer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neil Stephens
- Social and Political Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK
- CONTACT Neil Stephens
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2
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Framing regenerative medicine: culturally specific stories of an emerging technoscience. BIOSOCIETIES 2021. [DOI: 10.1057/s41292-021-00236-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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3
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Berghs M. Who Gets Cured? COVID-19 and Developing a Critical Medical Sociology and Anthropology of Cure. FRONTIERS IN SOCIOLOGY 2021; 5:613548. [PMID: 33869531 PMCID: PMC8022653 DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2020.613548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 12/11/2020] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Berghs
- Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
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4
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Duggal S, Faulkner A. Promissory and protective imaginaries of regenerative medicine: Expectations work and scenario maintenance of disease research charities in the United Kingdom. PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE (BRISTOL, ENGLAND) 2020; 29:392-407. [PMID: 32434460 DOI: 10.1177/0963662520920824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This article draws upon recent scholarship on technoscientific imaginaries and the sociology of technology expectations to reveal the mediating roles played by a number of disease-focused research charities in the United Kingdom. We examine the expectations they deal with about regenerative medicine research, and how they develop strategies to support and 'protect' potential medical scenarios for new therapies for dread diseases. In so doing, we develop and detail a concept of scenario maintenance to denote the strategic discursive and practical work of preserving stakeholders' faith in specific disease research pathways in the face of obstacles. Semi-structured in-depth interviews (N = 10) of research managers at nine research charities were qualitatively analysed, alongside a variety of charities' documentary data. Our analysis yielded three themes: managing and moderating media expectations; specifying expectations about disease-specific appropriateness of regenerative medicine; and maintaining scenarios of possible pathways for future success taking challenges into account.
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5
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Gjødsbøl IM, Winkel BG, Bundgaard H. Personalized medicine and preventive health care: juxtaposing health policy and clinical practice. CRITICAL PUBLIC HEALTH 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2019.1685077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Iben Mundbjerg Gjødsbøl
- Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Bo Gregers Winkel
- Centre for Cardiac, Vascular, Pulmonary, and Infectious Diseases, Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
| | - Henning Bundgaard
- Centre for Cardiac, Vascular, Pulmonary, and Infectious Diseases, Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
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6
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Petersen A, Tanner C, Munsie M. Navigating the cartographies of trust: how patients and carers establish the credibility of online treatment claims. SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS 2019; 41 Suppl 1:50-64. [PMID: 31599982 DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.12872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Digital media offer citizens novel ways of 'enacting' health and illness, and treatment and care. However, while digital media may so 'empower' citizens, those searching for credible information will be confronted with various, often-conflicting claims that may have 'disempowering' effects. This article uses Gieryn's concept of the 'cultural cartography' to explore the criteria that patients and carers employ in establishing the credibility of information on alleged treatments. Drawing on data from interviews with Australian patients and carers who have travelled or considered travelling abroad for unproven commercial stem cell treatments, the article examines how individuals assess rival sources of epistemic authority - science-based and non-science-based - as they search for credible information. As we argue, in a context where conventional treatment options are perceived to be limited or non-existent - which is likely to be the case with those suffering severe, life-limiting conditions - and the credibility of sources uncertain, matters of opinion and belief are prone to being interpreted as matters of fact, with potentially far-reaching implications for citizens' health. Revealing the mechanisms by which individuals ascribe credibility to health information, we conclude, has become crucial as digital media assume a growing role in health and healthcare and governments encourage citizens to become 'digitally literate'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Petersen
- Sociology and Gender Studies, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
| | - Claire Tanner
- Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Centre for Stem Cell Systems, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
| | - Megan Munsie
- Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Centre for Stem Cell Systems, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
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Gardner J, Webster A. Accelerating Innovation in the Creation of Biovalue: The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & HUMAN VALUES 2017; 42:925-946. [PMID: 28845068 PMCID: PMC5546419 DOI: 10.1177/0162243917702720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
The field of regenerative medicine (RM) has considerable therapeutic promise that is proving difficult to realize. As a result, governments have supported the establishment of intermediary agencies to "accelerate" innovation. This article examines in detail one such agency, the United Kingdom's Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGTC). We describe CGTC's role as an accelerator agency and its value narrative, which combines both "health and wealth." Drawing on the notion of sociotechnical imaginaries, we unpack the tensions within this narrative and its instantiation as the CGTC cell therapy infrastructure is built and engages with other agencies, some of which have different priorities and roles to play within the RM field.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Gardner
- School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- John Gardner, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia.
| | - Andrew Webster
- Science and Technology Studies Unit, Department of Sociology, University of York, Heslington, York, United Kingdom
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Salter B, Salter C. Controlling new knowledge: Genomic science, governance and the politics of bioinformatics. SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE 2017; 47:263-287. [PMID: 28056721 PMCID: PMC5405805 DOI: 10.1177/0306312716681210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The rise of bioinformatics is a direct response to the political difficulties faced by genomics in its quest to be a new biomedical innovation, and the value of bioinformatics lies in its role as the bridge between the promise of genomics and its realization in the form of health benefits. Western scientific elites are able to use their close relationship with the state to control and facilitate the emergence of new domains compatible with the existing distribution of epistemic power - all within the embrace of public trust. The incorporation of bioinformatics as the saviour of genomics had to be integrated with the operation of two key aspects of governance in this field: the definition and ownership of the new knowledge. This was achieved mainly by the development of common standards and by the promotion of the values of communality, open access and the public ownership of data to legitimize and maintain the governance power of publicly funded genomic science. Opposition from industry advocating the private ownership of knowledge has been largely neutered through the institutions supporting the science-state concordat. However, in order for translation into health benefits to occur and public trust to be assured, genomic and clinical data have to be integrated and knowledge ownership agreed upon across the separate and distinct governance territories of scientist, clinical medicine and society. Tensions abound as science seeks ways of maintaining its control of knowledge production through the negotiation of new forms of governance with the institutions and values of clinicians and patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Salter
- Brian Salter, Department of Political Economy, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK.
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10
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Acero L. [Internationalization, science and health: global regenerative medicine and the parallel markets]. CIENCIA & SAUDE COLETIVA 2016; 20:433-40. [PMID: 25715137 DOI: 10.1590/1413-81232015202.22272013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2013] [Accepted: 10/27/2013] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Regenerative medicine involves a paradigm change due to organism regeneration at cellular and tissue level - a controversial contemporary issue and difficult to regulate. This article presents a summary of the main scientific, economic, social and regulatory global trends, analyzed according to relevant theoretical dilemmas in medical anthropology and in the sociology of science and health. This is especially true of the construction of a 'collective frame of reference' on the new biological and ontological entities, the shaping of biological citizenship, and governance through uncertainty. Empirical evidence is also presented on a key aspect in regulation and governance, namely the emergence of a new transnational demand in health research through the establishment of parallel markets for ova and experimental cellular therapies. Qualitative data collected for a broader research paper is analyzed, as well as journal reviews and information gathered during interviews with international leaders. The paper concludes with a discussion on the importance on international governance of clinical trials and on further exploration, towards a multilevel harmonization of a diversity of normative practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liliana Acero
- Programa de Pós-Graduação, Instituto de Economia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil,
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Gardner J, Higham R, Faulkner A, Webster A. Promissory identities: Sociotechnical representations & innovation in regenerative medicine. Soc Sci Med 2016; 174:70-78. [PMID: 28012432 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2016] [Revised: 12/04/2016] [Accepted: 12/12/2016] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The field of regenerative medicine (RM) is championed as a potential source of curative treatments and economic wealth, and initiatives have been launched in several countries to facilitate innovation within the field. As a way of examining the social dimensions of innovation within regenerative medicine, this paper explores the sociotechnical representations of RM technologies in the UK, and the tensions, affordances and complexities these representations present for actors within the field. Specifically, the paper uses the Science and Technology Studies-inspired notions of 'technology identity' and 'development space' to examine how particular technologies are framed and positioned by actors, and how these positionings subsequently shape innovation pathways. Four developing RM technologies are used as case studies: bioengineered tracheas; autologous chondrocyte implantation; T-cell therapies; and a 'point-of-care' cell preparation device. Using these case studies we argue that there are particular identity aspects that have powerful performative effects and provide momentum to innovation projects, and we argue that there are particular stakeholders in the UK RM landscape who appear to have considerable power in shaping these technology identities and thus innovation pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Gardner
- Science and Technology Studies Unit, Department of Sociology University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD United Kingdom.
| | - Ruchi Higham
- Science and Technology Studies Unit, Department of Sociology University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD United Kingdom.
| | - Alex Faulkner
- Centre for Global Health Policy, University of Sussex, Falmer Brighton, BN1 9RH, United Kingdom.
| | - Andrew Webster
- Science and Technology Studies Unit, Department of Sociology University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD United Kingdom.
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12
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Changing cells: An analysis of the concept of plasticity in the context of cellular differentiation. BIOSOCIETIES 2016. [DOI: 10.1057/s41292-016-0027-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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13
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Gardner J, Webster A. The social management of biomedical novelty: Facilitating translation in regenerative medicine. Soc Sci Med 2016; 156:90-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2015] [Revised: 03/15/2016] [Accepted: 03/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Salter B, Zhou Y, Datta S. Hegemony in the marketplace of biomedical innovation: consumer demand and stem cell science. Soc Sci Med 2015; 131:156-63. [PMID: 25771483 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The global political economy of stem cell therapies is characterised by an established biomedical hegemony of expertise, governance and values in collision with an increasingly informed health consumer demand able to define and pursue its own interest. How does the hegemony then deal with the challenge from the consumer market and what does this tell us about its modus operandi? In developing a theoretical framework to answer these questions, the paper begins with an analysis of the nature of the hegemony of biomedical innovation in general, its close relationship with the research funding market, the current political modes of consumer incorporation, and the ideological role performed by bioethics as legitimating agency. Secondly, taking the case of stem cell innovation, it explores the hegemonic challenge posed by consumer demand working through the global practice based market of medical innovation, the response of the national and international institutions of science and their reassertion of the values of the orthodox model, and the supporting contribution of bioethics. Finally, the paper addresses the tensions within the hegemonic model of stem cell innovation between the key roles and values of scientist and clinician, the exacerbation of these tensions by the increasingly visible demands of health consumers, and the emergence of political compromise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Salter
- Department of Political Economy, King's College London, United Kingdom.
| | - Yinhua Zhou
- Department of Political Economy, King's College London, United Kingdom.
| | - Saheli Datta
- Department of Political Economy, King's College London, United Kingdom
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15
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Salter B, Zhou Y, Datta S. Health consumers and stem cell therapy innovation: markets, models and regulation. Regen Med 2015; 9:353-66. [PMID: 24935045 DOI: 10.2217/rme.13.99] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Global health consumer demand for stem cell therapies is vibrant, but the supply of treatments from the conventional science-based model of innovation is small and unlikely to increase in the near future. At the same time, several models of medical innovation have emerged that can respond to the demand, often employing a transnational value chain to deliver the product. Much of the commentary has approached the issue from a supply side perspective, demonstrating the extent to which national and transnational regulation fails to impose what are regarded as appropriate standards on the 'illicit' supply of stem cell therapies characterized by little data and poor outcomes. By contrast, this article presents a political economic analysis with a strong demand side perspective, arguing that the problem of what is termed 'stem cell tourism' is embedded in the demand-supply relationship of the health consumer market and its engagement with different types of stem cell therapy innovation. To be meaningful, discussions of regulation must recognize that analysis or risk being sidelined by a market, which ignores their often wishful thinking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Salter
- Global Biopolitics Research Centre, Department of Political Economy, King's College London, London, UK
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16
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Oerlemans AJM, van Hoek MEC, van Leeuwen E, Dekkers WJM. Hype and expectations in tissue engineering. Regen Med 2014; 9:113-22. [PMID: 24351011 DOI: 10.2217/rme.13.89] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Scientific progress and the development of new technologies often incite enthusiasm, both in scientists and the public at large, and this is especially apparent in discussions of emerging medical technologies, such as tissue engineering (TE). Future-oriented narratives typically discuss potential applications with much hype and expectations. In this article, we analyze the discourse on TE, its history and the promises present in the discourse surrounding it. Subsequently, we regard discussions about implantable bioartificial kidneys, and consider the concepts of hype and expectations in TE in general. Finally, we discuss what ethically responsible choices should be made in discussing TE to adequately deal with the scientific reality and public expectations surrounding this technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anke J M Oerlemans
- Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud University Medical Center, PO Box 9101 (IQ 114), 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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17
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The trouble with brain imaging: Hope, uncertainty and ambivalence in the neuroscience of autism. BIOSOCIETIES 2014. [DOI: 10.1057/biosoc.2014.15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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Pickersgill M, Niewöhner J, Müller R, Martin P, Cunningham-Burley S. Mapping the new molecular landscape: social dimensions of epigenetics. NEW GENETICS AND SOCIETY 2013; 32:429-447. [PMID: 24482610 PMCID: PMC3898699 DOI: 10.1080/14636778.2013.861739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2013] [Revised: 10/29/2013] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA itself. The field is rapidly growing and being widely promoted, attracting attention in diverse arenas. These include those of the social sciences, where some researchers have been encouraged by the resonance between imaginaries of development within epigenetics and social theory. Yet, sustained attention from science and technology studies (STS) scholars to epigenetics and the praxis it propels has been lacking. In this article, we reflexively consider some of the ways in which epigenetics is being constructed as an area of biomedical novelty and discuss the content and logics underlying the ambivalent promises being made by scientists working in this area. We then reflect on the scope, limits and future of engagements between epigenetics and the social sciences. Our discussion is situated within wider literatures on biomedicine and society, the politics of "interventionist STS," and on the problems of "caseness" within empirical social science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martyn Pickersgill
- University of Edinburgh, Centre for Population Health Sciences, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
| | | | | | | | - Sarah Cunningham-Burley
- University of Edinburgh, Centre for Population Health Sciences, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
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