Suchergebnisse

The paper is based on a study of the law‐making process of personal assistance in Norway. It discusses some tensions between the state and the municipalities concerning the type and quantity of services with regard to personal assistance. Does introduction of personal assistance imply an extended quantity of services or is it just another way of organising existing services? The signals from the state authorities are ambiguous, and when implementing the reform the municipalities are left to find a solution to this question. This might create a strategic game between the state and the municipalities. It might become an unpredicted side effect of the legislation of personal assistance that the municipalities will become more restrictive in the provision of personal assistance than they were in the experimental period.

Debates are ongoing about the harm misogynistic online communities pose to young men's identity and understanding of masculinities. This study aims to nuance our understanding of the online incel community by analysing 14 interviews with young men from five different continents who identify or formerly identified as incel or involuntary celibate. I use a subcultural theoretical framework, and my analysis identifies three forms of subcultural involvement of incels, varying from being all-encompassing, active participation and loose attachment. Drawing on the concept of digital drift, including insights from both traditional and post-subcultural traditions, I show how incels can flexibly drift across categories, changing their level of involvement and attachment to the incel subculture over time. The article highlights the need for more direct, critical engagement with young men involved in the incel subculture to account for the various ways these young men interact with this online phenomenon.

This article draws on Goffman's stigma theory to explore how incels (involuntary celibates) alleviate stigma and negotiate masculinity by employing normification, minstrelization, and militant chauvinism. Using netnographic research, I qualitatively explore three incel forums consisting of 927 comment threads. While incels advocate antifeminism and misogyny, they also exhibit traits and behaviors usually avoided in subcultures dominated by men, such as narratives of loneliness and inadequacy related to hegemonic ideals of masculinity and hyper-masculinity. This article explores the ambiguity of gender processes online, identity negotiation among incels and the use and combination of various stigma management strategies to uphold, challenge, or reject hegemonic masculinity. I argue that closer attention to stigma can help us understand incels' countercultural expressions within broader social and cultural notions about masculinity and shame.

The conceptualisation of a caring democracy provides strong arguments against neoliberal welfare states. However, there is currently a knowledge gap regarding how non-market-oriented welfare states are striving to reach their intention of a caring democracy. Based on a qualitative study, this article uses the case of Norwegian long-term care services for older people to provide insight into how this intention is practised in everyday care service settings when the current development is about active citizenship. The findings show ethical dilemmas for care managers and healthcare professionals, positioned on the front line of combining the creation of active citizens with the democratisation of services.

Abstract
Immunocompromised patients often fail to raise protective vaccine-induced immunity against the global emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants. Although monoclonal antibodies have been authorized for clinical use, most have lost their ability to potently neutralize the evolving Omicron subvariants. Thus, there is an urgent need for treatment strategies that can provide protection against these and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants to prevent the development of severe coronavirus disease 2019. Here, we report on the design and characterization of a long-acting viral entry-blocking angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) dimeric fusion molecule. Specifically, a soluble truncated human dimeric ACE2 variant, engineered for improved binding to the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2, was fused with human albumin tailored for favorable engagement of the neonatal fragment crystallizable receptor (FcRn), which resulted in enhanced plasma half-life and allowed for needle-free transmucosal delivery upon nasal administration in human FcRn-expressing transgenic mice. Importantly, the dimeric ACE2-fused albumin demonstrated potent neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 immune escape variants.