Methodology for the Positive Voices 2022 Survey of People With HIV Accessing Care in England, Wales, and Scotland: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.

Background: Due to advances in treatment, HIV is now a chronic condition with near-normal life expectancy. However, people with HIV continue to have a higher burden of mental and physical health conditions and are impacted by wider socioeconomic issues. Positive Voices is a nationally representative series of surveys of people with HIV in the United Kingdom.

Emergency department attendances and inpatient admissions due to mpox infection, England, 2022.

Objectives: In 2022, a global outbreak of mpox was reported. In the UK, it predominantly affected gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men (GBMSM). The study objectives were to describe the impact of the mpox outbreak on healthcare service usage in England in 2022, particularly emergency department (ED) attendance, inpatient admission and a number of bed days.

Paediatric acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology: a national investigation and adenoviraemia case-control study in the UK.

Background: An increase in acute severe hepatitis of unknown aetiology in previously healthy children in the UK in March, 2022, triggered global case-finding. We aimed to describe UK epidemiological investigations of cases and their possible causes.

Methods: We actively surveilled unexplained paediatric acute hepatitis (transaminase >500 international units per litre) in children younger than 16 years presenting since Jan 1, 2022, through notifications from paediatricians, microbiologists, and paediatric liver units; we collected demographic, clinical, and exposure information.

Pilot of asymptomatic swabbing of humans following exposures to confirmed avian influenza A(H5) in avian species in England, 2021/2022.

A programme of asymptomatic swabbing was piloted in 2021/2022 in England to further understand the risk of human infection with avian influenza in exposed individuals and to evaluate this surveillance approach as a public health measure. There were challenges in deploying this pilot that will need to be addressed for future seasons. However, there was one detection of avian influenza A(H5N1) in a human despite low uptake in eligible exposed persons.

Lessons learnt from an outbreak of COVID-19 in a workplace providing an essential service, Thames Valley, England 2020: Implications for investigation and control.

Objectives: Human behavioural factors are an important consideration in the response to COVID-19 outbreaks. Prior to the emergence of highly infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2 and implementation of vaccination programmes, we conducted a study to explore the role of behavioural factors influencing transmission at an essential services workplace during an outbreak of COVID-19.

Study Design: Observational cohort study.

The Rey 15-Item Memory Test in US veterans.

Introduction: The Rey 15-item Test is a public-domain, memory-based performance validity test, frequently used in clinical settings. Various efforts have been made to modify the test to make it more sensitive and more robust to effects of lower education and intelligence. The most promising of these is the addition of a recognition trial to the existing free recall paradigm.

The public health importance of scabies in community domiciliary care settings: an exploratory cross-sectional survey of Health Protection Teams in England.

Scabies is a contagious skin infection commonly occurring in institutions such as care homes. However, a large proportion of vulnerable people in England receive domiciliary care in the community and their experience of scabies has not been described. We undertook a pragmatic cross-sectional survey of Health Protection Teams (HPTs) in England to determine the burden of scabies related to domiciliary care.

Tuberculosis in South Asian communities in the UK: a systematic review of the literature.

Background: Rates of tuberculosis (TB) in UK South Asian communities are up to 17 times higher than in white British groups. Latent infection in new migrants provides only a partial explanation. We undertook a systematic review of the literature to establish existing knowledge about TB in South Asian communities.

An audit of hepatitis C service provision in a representative sample of prisons in England.

Background: Prisons are an important setting to address prevention, testing and treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and other blood-borne viruses. This audit examined current practice against national standards in a representative sample of prisons in England.

Methods: The audit tool was developed based on best practice guidelines and piloted in one prison.

Infection control in a developing world.

The global HIV and tuberculosis (TB) epidemics have placed enormous burdens upon already overstretched healthcare workers and poorly resourced healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa. The rapid emergence of multi-drug resistant TB, and its association with hospital-based outbreaks, have highlighted the role that healthcare facilities inadvertently may play in maintaining TB transmission, and the vital importance of attaining good TB infection control. James Elston, a specialist physician in infectious diseases and general internal medicine, who recently returned from a second stint in Swaziland, says many of the region's healthcare facilities are outdated, poorly ventilated, and were not designed for their current purpose.

Emotional and motivational changes after bilateral lesions of the globus pallidus.

This study investigated motivational changes in a 44 year-old man (PJ) who developed considerable reduction in spontaneous activity and speech, flat affect, social withdrawal, loss of interest, inability to "feel," and lack of concern regarding his medical condition after bilateral, focal, anoxic lesions of the globus pallidus. PJ and 30 male controls performed a task designed to parse hedonic evaluation, or liking, from incentive motivation, or wanting. Affective stimuli were presented on a computer screen and subjects controlled viewing time by pressing keys.

Predictors of subjective cognitive difficulties in older adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the relationship among cognitive test performance, psychological symptoms, and subjective cognitive difficulties in older adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Method: Participants were 80 adults over the age of 55 with an unequivocal diagnosis of atherosclerotic vascular disease. Participants completed measures of neuropsychological functioning, psychological symptoms, and two measures of subjective cognitive difficulties.