"It Happens, But I'm Not There": On the Phenomenology of Childbirth.

Phenomenologically grounded research on pregnancy is a thriving area of activity in feminist studies and related disciplines. But what has been largely omitted in this area of research is the experience of childbirth itself. This paper proposes a phenomenological analysis of childbirth inspired by the work of Merleau-Ponty.

Cross-sectional study of the prevalence, causes and management of hospital-onset diarrhoea.

Background: The National Health Service in England advises hospitals collect data on hospital-onset diarrhoea (HOD). Contemporaneous data on HOD are lacking.

Aim: To investigate prevalence, aetiology and management of HOD on medical, surgical and elderly-care wards.

'Seeing' Strain in Soft Materials.

Several technologies can be used for measuring strains of soft materials under high rate impact conditions. These technologies include high speed tensile test, split Hopkinson pressure bar test, digital image correlation and high speed X-ray imaging. However, none of these existing technologies can produce a continuous 3D spatial strain distribution in the test specimen.

Agency and Anxiety: Delusions of Control and Loss of Control in Schizophrenia and Agoraphobia.

We review the distinction between sense of agency and sense of ownership, and then explore these concepts, and their reflective attributions, in schizophrenic symptoms and agoraphobia. We show how the underlying dynamics of these experiences are different across these disorders. We argue that these concepts are complex and cannot be reduced to neural mechanisms, but involve embodied and situated processes that include the physical and social environments.

Outbreak of invasive group A streptococcus infection: contaminated patient curtains and cross-infection on an ear, nose and throat ward.

Background: Outbreaks of group A streptococcus (GAS) infections may occur in healthcare settings and have been documented in surgical, obstetrics and gynaecology, and burns units. The environment may serve as a reservoir and facilitate transmission via contaminated equipment.

Aim: To describe the investigation and control of an outbreak of healthcare-associated GAS infection on an ear, nose and throat (ENT) ward in a tertiary referral centre.