Feasibility of investigating methylphenidate for the treatment of sarcoidosis-associated fatigue (the FaST-MP study): a double-blind, parallel-arm randomised feasibility trial.

Introduction: Sarcoidosis-associated fatigue (SAF) is a common clinical problem with limited treatment options. This study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of performing a definitive trial to determine the clinical efficacy methylphenidate in SAF.

Methods: This was a parallel-arm, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised controlled feasibility trial enrolling sarcoidosis patients reporting significant fatigue.

Women's perceptions of COVID-19 and their healthcare experiences: a qualitative thematic analysis of a national survey of pregnant women in the United Kingdom.

Background: The aim of this national survey was to explore pregnant women's perceptions of COVID-19 and their healthcare experiences.

Methods: Through patient and public involvement, a questionnaire was developed and advertised via the BBC website, Twitter and other online media during May 2020. The findings were analysed by qualitative thematic analysis.

Performance management: a qualitative study of relational boundaries in personal assistance.

Personal assistance (PA) is a model of support where disabled people take control of recruiting, training and managing the people that support them. Personal assistance differs from other forms of care, such as domiciliary or informal care, because the disabled person is in control of how, when and by whom they are supported. With the advent of personal health budgets, PA is no longer limited to social care but is also central to future NHS services and funding arrangements.

The experiences of midwives and women during intrapartum transfer from one-to-one midwife-led birth environments to obstetric-led units.

Objective: To explore the transition from midwifery one-to-one support in labour within a midwife-led birth environment to an obstetric-led unit from the perspectives of midwives and women.

Design: Ethnographic study. Data was collected from eleven transfers to an obstetric-led unit.

Midwifery one-to-one support in labour: More than a ratio.

Objective: To explore midwifery one-to-one support in labour in a real world context of midwife-led birth environments.

Design: Ethnographic study. Data was collected from 30 observations inside and outside the birth environments in three different birth settings.

Making sense of concept analysis.

Background: Concept analysis is frequently the first step novice nurse researchers take when beginning their work. However, the value of concept analysis in generating theory is debated, and although there are many models researchers can use, few provide guidance for applying them or overviews of their philosophical underpinnings.

Aim: To share learning about challenges encountered when undertaking concept analysis and to present an adaptation of Rodgers ( 1989 ) model created to overcome these.

Feasibility study of a randomised controlled trial to investigate the treatment of sarcoidosis-associated fatigue with methylphenidate (FaST-MP): a study protocol.

Introduction: Fatigue is a frequent and troublesome manifestation of chronic sarcoidosis. This symptom can be debilitating and difficult to treat, with poor response to the treatment. Symptomatic management with neurostimulants, such as methylphenidate, is a possible treatment option.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for a real time monitoring of the biogas process.

In this research project Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was applied to monitor the content of specific process parameters in anaerobic digestion. A laboratory scaled biogas digester was constantly fed every four hours with maize- and grass silage to keep a base load with an organic loading rate (OLR) of 2.5 kg oDM/m ∗ d.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis on lipoprotein (a) concentrations adjusted for apolipoprotein (a) isoforms.

High lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] concentrations are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes. Concentrations are strongly influenced by apo(a) kringle IV repeat isoforms. We aimed to identify genetic loci associated with Lp(a) concentrations using data from five genome-wide association studies (n = 13,781).

[Usage patterns of internet and computer games : Results of an observational study of Tyrolean adolescents].

Background: The use of digital media such as the Internet and Computer games has greatly increased. In the western world, almost all young people regularly use these relevant technologies. Against this background, forms of use with possible negative consequences for young people have been recognized and scientifically examined.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis on apolipoprotein A-IV concentrations.

Apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV) is a major component of HDL and chylomicron particles and is involved in reverse cholesterol transport. It is an early marker of impaired renal function. We aimed to identify genetic loci associated with apoA-IV concentrations and to investigate relationships with known susceptibility loci for kidney function and lipids.

Hymen reconstruction as pragmatic empowerment? Results of a qualitative study from Tunisia.

Hymen reconstruction surgery (HR), while ethically controversial, is now available in many countries. Little clinical evidence and hardly any surgical standards support the intervention. Nearly as scarce is social science research exploring women's motivations for the intervention, and health care professionals' justifications for its provision.

Validation of Next-Generation Sequencing of Entire Mitochondrial Genomes and the Diversity of Mitochondrial DNA Mutations in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is mainly caused by smoking and alcohol abuse and shows a five-year survival rate of ~50%. We aimed to explore the variation of somatic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in primary oral tumors, recurrences and metastases.

Methods: We performed an in-depth validation of mtDNA next-generation sequencing (NGS) on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform for its application to cancer tissues, with the goal to detect low-level heteroplasmies and to avoid artifacts.

Lipoprotein (a) concentrations, apolipoprotein (a) phenotypes, and peripheral arterial disease in three independent cohorts.

Aims: The relevance of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] concentrations and low-molecular-weight (LMW) apo(a) phenotypes in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has only been investigated by few studies. Therefore, we analysed this association in three independent cohorts and performed a Mendelian Randomization approach using instrumental variable regression.

Methods And Results: Lp(a) concentrations, apo(a) phenotypes, and one SNP in the LPA gene (rs10455872) were measured in the CAVASIC study, including 241 male patients with intermittent claudication and 246 age- and diabetes-matched controls as well as in the two population-based studies KORA F3 (n = 3184) and KORA F4 (n = 3080).

Towards an understanding of resilience and its relevance to medical training.

Objectives: This article explores the concept of resilience and its potential relevance to medicine. It also looks at the dimensions of resilience and its ethical importance for effective professional practice, and considers whether a focus on resilience might be useful in medical training.

Methods: An applied literature search was conducted across the domains of education, ethics, psychology and sociology to answer the research question: 'What is resilience and what might it mean for professional development in medical education?' This article predominantly considers the findings in relation to training in undergraduate and postgraduate settings, although the literature is wide-ranging and findings may be applicable elsewhere.

The limits of empathy: problems in medical education and practice.

Empathy is commonly regarded as an essential attribute for doctors and there is a conviction that empathy must be taught to medical students. Yet it is not clear exactly what empathy is, from a philosophical or sociological point of view, or whether it can be taught. The meaning, role and relevance of empathy in medical education have tended to be unquestioningly assumed; there is a need to examine and contextualise these assumptions.

Qi Gong exercises and Feldenkrais method from the perspective of Gestalt concept and humanistic psychology.

This study describes two similar approaches to human movement: Qi Gong exercises and the Feldenkrais method. These systems are investigated in terms of Gestalt concepts and humanistic psychology. Moshe Feldenkrais created the concept known as Awareness Through Movement.

A mixed-method approach to sense of coherence, health behaviors, self-efficacy and optimism: towards the operationalization of positive health attitudes.

This study discusses the results of a cross-sectional survey of healthy college students in Poland. More specifically, it describes, explores, and explains the relationships between psychological variables/models such as health behaviors (HB), sense of coherence (SOC), level of optimism (LOO), and self-efficacy (SE) among college students. These separate constructs have also been used to operationalize a positive health attitude (PHA) as a novel construct.

Complex syndromes, ambivalent diagnosis, and existential uncertainty: the case of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), also known as lupus, is an autoimmune disorder which is difficult to diagnose due to its manifold symptoms. Its complexity is part and parcel of the epistemological changes that scientific biomedicine is undergoing which in turn influence clinical practice. These changes lead to the well known and often-discussed frustration of patients who suffer from elusive disorders, long-term or chronic illnesses, and medically unexplained symptoms.