Atlantic University

As the 21st Century continues to engender amazing innovations in the communication space, the influence of the media is becoming more pervasive. Thus, the media can no longer be studied separately from society; rather they must be seen as an integral part of the social structure upon which modern societies rest. Mediatization, as a theory, explains the manner in which social institutions are affected by, and seek to adapt to, the media. This paper seeks to contribute to the scholarly discussion of mediatization as a concept. It discusses its applicability within the Nigerian context and considers its implications for society. Using a mix of literature review and comments based on the authors’ observation, it discusses and interrogates the mediatization of the contemporary Nigerian society.

To mark Research Ireland’s Science Week 2025 (9–16 November), the Research Coordinator team at Atlantic Technological University (ATU), funded through RISE@ATU, has produced the second edition of the ATU Research Showcase Series, highlighting the work of ATU researchers transforming healthcare through technology and innovation. From optimising biopharmaceutical production to developing artificial intelligence platforms for novel diagnostics, and from advanced manufacturing of medical devices to digital therapeutics that enhance wellbeing among vulnerable populations, this edition illustrates how ATU research is delivering real-world impact for patients, practitioners, and communities across the west and north-west of Ireland, and beyond. It showcases interdisciplinary research, innovation and collaboration across ATU’s faculties and Research Centres. As the technological university for the west and north-west, ATU grounds this innovation in regional and national priorities. Through alignment with Ireland’s National Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) for Innovation 2022–2027, ATU contributes to sectoral strengths and potential opportunities in Life Sciences, MedTech, and Medical Devices, while also driving emerging opportunities in Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, ICT, and Digital Services, reinforcing its role as a key innovation partner. This booklet presents a sample of 12 researchers whose profiles reflect the breadth of ATU’s growing expertise in health-tech research and innovation. Their selection spans multiple campuses and faculties, demonstrating the university’s interdisciplinary strengths and collaborative ethos, while reinforcing Ireland’s position as a global leader in health innovation. Many other colleagues across ATU are also making significant contributions to this field, and their work is equally valued. These profiles are intended to highlight a cross-section of ATU’s strengths in this area, rather than provide an exhaustive list.

This article aims to vindicate the ugly in art or propose a new way of understanding ugliness in the artistic. Traditionally, ugliness in art has functioned either as a contrastive element to beauty or as a derogatory label for certain artistic compositions. The way that this work has to make this claim is to propose a new way of understanding ugliness, since it will be understood as an aesthetic category that goes beyond the indication of the beautiful. This new way of understanding ugliness will be studied, in a concrete way, in one of its possible variants, feminist ugliness. To do this, possible ugly feminist works will be studied and compared with merely ugly or simply feminist works.

Esophageal cancer is currently the sixth most common cancer worldwide and one of the most lethal cancers. The lack of physiologically relevant human esophageal cancer models has hindered the progress of developing effective strategies against esophageal cancer. To address the issue, we developed a decellularized esophageal matrix derived hydrogel. We then characterized the physicochemical properties of the decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) hydrogel. To bioengineer the cancer model using the dECM hydrogel, we seeded esophageal squamous cell carcinoma KYSE30 on the dECM hydrogel and in the dECM hydrogel. They grew well and spread out in/on the dECM hydrogel. We also casted KYSE30-laden dECM hydrogel on a side of a well to see if KYSE30 will migrate out of the hydrogel. After culturing 3 days, we found that KYSE30 cells grew and started to migrate out of the dECM hydrogel, and migrated more after day 5. We counted the number of migrated cells. We found that cell migrated more at day 5. We then quantified cell proliferation of KYSE30 in the dECM hydrogel. We found that KYSE30 cells proliferated in the dECM hydrogel with time. These findings bring new potential to using the decellularized matrix derived hydrogel for future experiments in studying cancer behavior and practical applications for esophageal cancer models. Yunqing Kang. Decellularized extracellular matrix hydrogel for esophageal cancer model [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Cancer Evolution: The Dynamics of Progression and Persistence; 2025 Dec 4-6; Albuquerque, NM. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(23_Suppl):Abstract nr A036.

e20049 Background: The use of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors as neoadjuvant agents for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has shown promising benefits in recent trials and could be a viable treatment option. This study aims to evaluate their overall efficacy as neoadjuvant treatment options and to examine their effects on different PD-1 expression subtypes. Methods: An electronic search was performed using the PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases on December 31, 2024. We included only randomized controlled trials that evaluated PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors as neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapies, comparing them to chemotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The primary endpoints were event-free survival (EFS), pathological complete response (pCR), and overall survival (OS). A subgroup analysis of EFS was conducted based on PD-L1 expression levels (<1, ≥1, 1-49, and ≥50). Effect sizes were calculated using hazard ratios (HR) and odds ratios (OR), both with 95% confidence intervals. A random-effects model was applied. Results: Only four of the 2,551 screened articles met our inclusion criteria, totaling about 3,404 patients. All studies were phase III clinical trials except for two (TD-FOREKNOW and NADIM II). Each trial evaluated the combination of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors with chemotherapy, and all of them used chemotherapy monotherapy as the control group. PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors combination therapy significantly improved event-free survival (EFS) compared to chemotherapy monotherapy, with a hazard ratio of 0.57 (95% CI: 0.51–0.65, p < 0.001). Similarly, overall survival (OS) was significantly improved, with a hazard ratio of 0.64 (95% CI: 0.53–0.77, p < 0.001). Both EFS and OS had low heterogeneity levels (I² = 0). Pathologic complete response (pCR) was significantly higher in the PD-1/PD-L1 combination therapy arm, with an odds ratio of 8.03 (95% CI: 5.33–12.11, p < 0.001), and it had moderate heterogeneity (I² = 49). Finally, in our evaluation of PD-1 expression, all levels had a significant improvement in EFS; even the very low expression subgroup <1 had an HR of 0.76 [0.63, 0.93, p = 0.006, I² = 0]. Conclusions: The use of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant option for patients undergoing surgical resection for NSCLC has demonstrated significant benefits, as evidenced by improvements in EFS, OS, and high pCR rates. Additionally, patients with very low PD-1 expression below one also showed improvements.