"Freedom to move through the house": How a healthy housing initiative improves quality of life in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Objective: This study explores experiences of the Healthy Housing Initiative (HHI). Aimed at children at risk of housing-related illness, the HHI package includes the provision of items such as curtains, heaters, bedding, and insulation, advocacy to encourage landlords to install improvements, and education and advice to help people optimise their home environment.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 20 people living in rental housing who received the HHI intervention.

Long-Term Calcium Monitoring Post Parathyroidectomy for Primary Hyperparathyroidism.

Background:  Cure rates following parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism are excellent, with well-documented low short-term recurrence rates of hypercalcaemia. Rates of long-term recurrence have been investigated to a lesser extent, but recent studies have reported higher than anticipated rates. This study sought to evaluate recurrence rates at more than four years post seemingly corrective surgery and depending on the findings, propose whether recommendations of annual calcium monitoring post-parathyroidectomy are appropriate based on the limited data available at the time of formulating guidelines.

Thinking beyond otorhinolaryngology in patients presenting with bilateral vocal cord paresis.

Anti-immunoglobulin-like cell adhesion molecule 5 (IGLON5), a disease first described in 2014 by Sabater ., is characterised by dysphonia, dysphagia, stridor and dysautonomia. We discuss the case of a patient presenting to the emergency department with anti-IGLON5 associated airway compromise following progressive reduced vocal cord movement requiring a surgical tracheostomy.

Aromatase inhibition plus/minus Src inhibitor saracatinib (AZD0530) in advanced breast cancer therapy (ARISTACAT): a randomised phase II study.

Purpose: The development of oestrogen resistance is a major challenge in managing hormone-sensitive metastatic breast cancer. Saracatinib (AZD0530), an oral Src kinase inhibitor, prevents oestrogen resistance in animal models and reduces osteoclast activity. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of saracatinib addition to aromatase inhibitors (AI) in patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer.

He Kāinga Oranga: reflections on 25 years of measuring the improved health, wellbeing and sustainability of healthier housing.

This paper reflects on the influences and outcomes of He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme over 25 years, and their impact on housing and health policy in Aotearoa and internationally. Working in partnership particularly with Māori and Pasifika communities, we have conducted randomised control trials which have shown the health and broad co-benefits of retrofitted insulation, heating and remediation of home hazards, which have underpinned government policy in the Warm Up NZ-Heat Smart programme and the Healthy Homes Standards for rental housing. These trials have been included as evidence in the WHO Housing and Health Guidelines and led to our designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre on Housing and Wellbeing.

"You're so powerless": Takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ people's experiences before becoming homeless in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Little is known in Aotearoa New Zealand about experiences of homelessness amongst Takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ identifying people, despite growing international literature regarding LGBTIQ+ homelessness. Using data from semi-structured interviews with eight people who identified as Takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ and had experienced homelessness, this paper explores their experiences prior to becoming homeless. These experiences are placed into the categories of: the pervasiveness of instability (especially in regards to family relationships, finances, and housing), having to grow up fast due to social and material conditions, experiences of looking for housing in stressed markets, and systems failures that resulted in a lack of autonomy.

'That house was a home': Qualitative evidence from New Zealand on the connections between rental housing eviction and poor health outcomes.

Issue Addressed: Eviction, or a forced move from rental housing, is a common experience for New Zealand renters, yet we know very little about its effects. This research investigated how eviction affects people's lives and health.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 people who had experienced eviction.

Service usage of a cohort of formerly homeless women in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore government service usage across the domains of health, justice, and social development and tax for a cohort of formerly homeless people in Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing specifically on the experiences of women. The Integrated Data Infrastructure is used, which links our de-identified cohort data with administrative data from various Aotearoa New Zealand Government departments.

Results: Of the cohort of 390, the majority (53.

Balloon sinuplasty: two-year follow up using Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 outcomes.

Background: Balloon sinuplasty is a relatively new surgical technology proposed as a less invasive way of treating chronic rhinosinusitis and frontal sinus disease. It is crucial to monitor safety and efficacy to allow informed clinical decisions and appropriate counselling of patients. There are few papers with long-term follow up.

Public Housing and Well-Being: Evaluation Frameworks to Influence Policy.

Background: A robust evidence base is needed to develop sustainable cross-party solutions for public housing to promote well-being. The provision of public housing is politically contentious in New Zealand, as in many liberal democracies. Depending on the government, policies oscillate between encouraging sales of public housing stock and reducing investment and maintenance, and large-scale investment, provision, and regeneration of public housing.

Well Homes Initiative: A Home-Based Intervention to Address Housing-Related Ill Health.

Background: Six thousand children are hospitalized each year in New Zealand with housing sensitive conditions, and 86.2% of these children are rehospitalized during childhood. The Healthy Homes Initiative, set up by the Ministry of Health, and implemented in Wellington through Well Homes, carries out housing assessments and delivers a range of housing interventions.

LGBTIQ+ Homelessness: A Review of the Literature.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ+) people's experiences of homelessness is an under-explored area of housing and homelessness studies, despite this group making up 20-40% of homeless populations. Despite this, much of the existing literature focuses on specific elements of LGBTIQ+ homelessness, and often does not consider the intersections of these elements, instead placing them into individual siloes. Our approach is an intersectional one; this paper identifies the key themes in the existing research, and analyses how these themes interact to reinforce the discrimination and stigma faced by LGBTIQ+ people who experience homelessness.

Why don't owners improve their homes? Results from a survey following a housing warrant-of-fitness assessment for health and safety.

Objective: To assess homeowners' intentions to make voluntary improvements to their homes following a warrant-of-fitness (WOF) assessment to highlight health and safety issues.

Methods: We recruited 83 homeowners, including nine landlords, in Taranaki, New Zealand, who agreed to have a WOF assessment carried out on their homes. We interviewed 40 of the homeowners to ascertain what improvements they planned to make, and barriers to improving their homes.

Promoting health through housing improvements, education and advocacy: Lessons from staff involved in Wellington's Healthy Housing Initiative.

Issue Addressed: Improving the conditions of housing through programs that trigger when children are hospitalised has the potential to prevent further ill-health and re-hospitalisations. Exploring the attitudes and beliefs of staff involved in such a program assists in understanding the advantages and challenges of this approach.

Methods: We interviewed 21 people involved in a regional initiative to improve the health outcomes of children through referral to a housing program.

Mapping interactions between the sustainable development goals: lessons learned and ways forward.

Pursuing integrated research and decision-making to advance action on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) fundamentally depends on understanding interactions between the SDGs, both negative ones ("trade-offs") and positive ones ("co-benefits"). This quest, triggered by the 2030 Agenda, has however pointed to a gap in current research and policy analysis regarding how to think systematically about interactions across the SDGs. This paper synthesizes experiences and insights from the application of a new conceptual framework for mapping and assessing SDG interactions using a defined typology and characterization approach.

Implementing a standardised discharge analgesia guideline to reduce paediatric post tonsillectomy pain.

Objectives: To reduce readmission for pain control post-paediatric tonsillectomy.

Introduction: Paediatric tonsillectomy is a common procedure in the UK. Uncontrolled pain at home is a common reason for re-admission and therefore adequate analgesic control following paediatric tonsillectomy is vital for a smooth post-operative recovery.

Setting Housing Standards to Improve Global Health.

Developing World Health Organization international guidelines is a highly formal process. Yet the resulting guidelines, which Member States are encouraged, but not required to adopt, are a powerful way of developing rigorous policy and fostering implementation. Using the example of the housing and health guidelines, which are currently being finalised, this paper outlines the process for developing WHO guidelines.

Using Twitter to Explore (un)Healthy Housing: Learning from the #Characterbuildings Campaign in New Zealand.

While increasingly used for research, Twitter remains largely untapped as a source of data about housing. We explore the growth of social media and use of Twitter in health and social research, and question why housing researchers have avoided using Twitter to explore housing issues to date. We use the #characterbuildings campaign, initiated by an online media platform in New Zealand in 2014 to illustrate that Twitter can provide insights into housing as a public health and social problem.

Dimethyl fumarate improves white matter function following severe hypoperfusion: Involvement of microglia/macrophages and inflammatory mediators.

The brain's white matter is highly vulnerable to reductions in cerebral blood flow via mechanisms that may involve elevated microgliosis and pro-inflammatory pathways. In the present study, the effects of severe cerebral hypoperfusion were investigated on white matter function and inflammation. Male C57Bl/6J mice underwent bilateral common carotid artery stenosis and white matter function was assessed at seven days with electrophysiology in response to evoked compound action potentials (CAPs) in the corpus callosum.

Mutations in TBCK, Encoding TBC1-Domain-Containing Kinase, Lead to a Recognizable Syndrome of Intellectual Disability and Hypotonia.

Through an international multi-center collaboration, 13 individuals from nine unrelated families and affected by likely pathogenic biallelic variants in TBC1-domain-containing kinase (TBCK) were identified through whole-exome sequencing. All affected individuals were found to share a core phenotype of intellectual disability and hypotonia, and many had seizures and showed brain atrophy and white-matter changes on neuroimaging. Minor non-specific facial dysmorphism was also noted in some individuals, including multiple older children who developed coarse features similar to those of storage disorders.

Towards an agreed quality standard for rental housing: field testing of a New Zealand housing WOF tool.

Objective: Report on a field test of a rental housing warrant of fitness (WOF) to assess its practicality and utility for supporting improved quality of housing.

Methods: Five councils each recruited at least 25 rental houses to undergo a WOF assessment. The assessment included housing features that, based on a combination of research and practicality, were considered to have an important impact on health, safety and energy efficiency.

Chromosome 1p36.22p36.21 duplications/triplication causes Setleis syndrome (focal facial dermal dysplasia type III).

Focal facial dermal dysplasias (FFDD) are characterized by congenital bitemporal or preauricular atrophic skin lesions, and either autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive inheritance. Setleis syndrome (SS), FFDD type III, is a severe form of FFDD with the ectodermal lesions plus other striking facial features. Autosomal recessive nonsense and frameshift mutations in TWIST2 have been found to cause SS in some but not all individuals.

Acoustic parameters of speech: Lack of correlation with perceptual and questionnaire-based speech evaluation in patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer treated with primary surgery.

Background: Acoustic evaluation of speech is the least explored method of speech evaluation in patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer. The purpose of this study was to explore acoustic parameters of speech and their correlation with questionnaire evaluation and perceptual evaluation in patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer.

Methods: One hundred seventeen subjects (65 consecutive patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer and 52 controls) participated in this study.

The diagnostic value of fine needle aspiration in parotid lumps.

Introduction: Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a safe and quick method of diagnosing superficial lumps, which aids preoperative planning. However, FNA of the parotid gland has not gained the widespread acceptance noted in other head and neck lumps. The aim of this study was to determine the ability of FNA of the parotid gland to differentiate benign and malignant disease, and to determine the impact on surgical outcome.

Sound therapy (masking) in the management of tinnitus in adults.

Background: This is an update of a Cochrane Review first published in The Cochrane Library in Issue 12, 2010.Tinnitus is described as the perception of sound or noise in the absence of real acoustic stimulation. Numerous management strategies have been tried for this potentially debilitating, heterogeneous symptom.