Publications by authors named "E S Beard"
Background: Smoking rates in the UK have declined steadily over the past decades, masking considerable inequalities, as little change has been observed among people with a mental health condition. This trial sought to assess the feasibility and acceptability of supplying an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) starter kit for smoking cessation as an adjunct to usual care for smoking cessation, to smokers with a mental health condition treated in the community, to inform a future effectiveness trial.
Methods: This randomised controlled feasibility trial, conducted March-December 2022, compared the intervention (e-cigarette starter kit with a corresponding information leaflet and demonstration with Very Brief Advice) with a 'usual care' control at 1-month follow-up.
Background: Digital technologies offer the potential for low-cost, scalable delivery of interventions to promote smoking cessation.
Objective: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the offer of Smoke Free-an evidence-informed, widely used app-for smoking cessation versus no support.
Methods: In this 2-arm randomized controlled trial, 3143 motivated adult smokers were recruited online between August 2020 and April 2021 and randomized to receive an offer of the Smoke Free app plus follow-up (intervention arm) versus follow-up only (comparator arm).
Article Synopsis
- Mitochondria don't use nucleotide excision DNA repair, but their DNA (mtDNA) shows resilience against mutations after DNA damage, hinting at protective mechanisms.
- Research involved techniques like live-cell imaging and protein-DNA binding assays to study how Transcription Factor A, Mitochondrial (TFAM) interacts with UVC-damaged DNA and its effects on mtDNA.
- Results showed TFAM increases mtDNA compaction when damaged, but surprisingly, this doesn't prevent further DNA damage or mutations, suggesting TFAM's role as a damage sensor rather than a protective agent.
In the Drosophila testis, developing germ cells are encapsulated by somatic support cells throughout development. Soma-germline interactions are essential for successful spermiogenesis. However, it is still not fully understood what signaling events take place between the soma and the germline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe assess the UK Biobank (UKB) Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) Release, a set of PRSs for 28 diseases and 25 quantitative traits that has been made available on the individuals in UKB, using a unified pipeline for PRS evaluation. We also release a benchmarking software tool to enable like-for-like performance evaluation for different PRSs for the same disease or trait. Extensive benchmarking shows the PRSs in the UKB Release to outperform a broad set of 76 published PRSs.
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