Glucagon is the principal glucose-elevating hormone that forms the first-line defence against hypoglycaemia. Along with insulin, glucagon also plays a key role in maintaining systemic glucose homeostasis. The cells that secrete glucagon, pancreatic α-cells, are electrically excitable cells and use electrical activity to couple its hormone secretion to changes in ambient glucose levels. Exactly how

The Amit conjecture about word maps on finite nilpotent groups has been shown to hold for certain classes of groups. The generalised Amit conjecture says that the probability of an element occurring in the image of a word map on a finite nilpotent group G is either 0, or at least 1/|G|. Noting the work of Ashurst, we name the generalised Amit conjecture the Amit–Ashurst conjecture and show that th

Background: Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is produced by the placenta and plays an essential role in the maintenance of pregnancy. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have the potential to interfere with functions related to the production and secretion of hCG; however associations between exposure to EDCs and hCG concentrations in humans remain to be elucidated. Objectives: To investigate

The solubilisation capacities of the micelles formed by a range of surfactants possessing a dodecyl (C12) hydrocarbon ‘tail’ and a variety of hydrophilic ‘headgroups’ have been studied for a range of hydrophobic steroids (testosterone (T) and its propionate (TP) and enanthate (TE) esters). The solubilisation studies were performed at ambient temperature, with drug concentration monitored (over 48–

What is done in the act of public intelligence disclosures? Leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, US intelligence agencies engaged in an unprecedented amount of public disclosures, causing scholars and journalists to describe it as a tectonic shift in intelligence practice. Going beyond the traditional question of strategic aims related to intelligence disclosures, this article ta

What are the political implications of seeing the human mind as a key source of insecurity? The idea that the cognitive realm represents a ‘new domain of war’ is an emerging concern among Western security professionals which can be read against a background of advancements in the neurosciences, the introduction of psychographic targeting and a preoccupation with online disinformation. Drawing on m

In recent years, trust has emerged as a topic of interest for scholars aiming to understand the mechanisms enabling transnational intelligence cooperation and focusing on relations of trust between intelligence agencies. The potential dynamics between the trust facilitating transnational intelligence cooperation and the public trust in intelligence agencies on a national level however remains unex

Authorship is important for career progression but it also implies responsibility for the integrity of work undertaken. There are variousguidelines for authorship, but with no clear definition and with tacitly agreed standards which vary between disciplines, it can be amatter of interpretation and negotiation who will be listed as an author. It is often not clear what contribution each person has

The significance of writing for PhD students, particularly at faculties of Humanities, cannot be overemphasized; the written manuscript is the final product to be publicly discussed by external examiners. This article takes as its starting point a “quick & dirty” study of a student-initiated writing group at a humanities department (HD) and the assumption that thesis supervisors nowadays need