The impact of alcohol minimum unit pricing on people with experience of homelessness: Qualitative study.

Background: Alcohol Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) was introduced in Scotland in May 2018. Existing evidence suggests MUP can reduce alcohol consumption in the general population, but there is little research about its impact on vulnerable groups. This qualitative study explored experiences of MUP among people with experience of homelessness.

Alcohol minimum unit pricing and people experiencing homelessness: A qualitative study of stakeholders' perspectives and experiences.

Introduction: Minimum unit pricing (MUP) may reduce harmful drinking in the general population, but there is little evidence regarding its impact on marginalised groups. Our study is the first to explore the perceptions of MUP among stakeholders working with people experiencing homelessness following its introduction in Scotland in May 2018.

Methods: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 41 professional stakeholders from statutory and third sector organisations across Scotland.

Factors influencing routine cognitive impairment screening in older at-risk drinkers: Findings from a qualitative study in the United Kingdom.

Cognitive Impairment (CI) screening is recommended for those engaged in harmful levels of alcohol use. However, there is a lack of evidence on implementation. This paper explores the barriers and facilitators to CI screening experienced across a service specifically for older drinkers.

Diagnosing uncertainty, producing neonatal abstinence syndrome.

The use of alcohol and other drugs during pregnancy is understood to be an important public health problem. One way in which this problem is expressed and responded to is via the identification and treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). In this article, we demonstrate how the processes of anticipating, identifying and responding to NAS are characterised by significant uncertainty among parents and health and social care practitioners.

An optimised Cu(0)-RDRP approach for the synthesis of lipidated oligomeric vinyl azlactone: toward a versatile antimicrobial materials screening platform.

This report details the synthesis of lipidated 2-vinyl-4,4-dimethyl-5-oxazolone (VDM) oligomers via an optimised Cu(0)-mediated reversible-deactivation radical polymerisation approach, and the use of these oligomers as a versatile functional platform for the rapid generation of antimicrobial materials. The relative amounts of CuBr and MeTREN were optimised to allow the fast and controlled polymerisation of VDM. These conditions were then used with the initiators ethyl 2-bromoisobutyrate, dodecyl 2-bromoisobutyrate, and (R)-3-((2-bromo-2-methylpropanoyl)oxy)propane-1,2-diyl didodecanoate to synthesise a library of oligo(VDM) (degree of polymerisation = 10) with ethyl, dodecyl or diglyceride end-groups.

Exploiting Macromolecular Design To Optimize the Antibacterial Activity of Alkylated Cationic Oligomers.

There is growing interest in synthetic polymers which co-opt the structural features of naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides. However, our understanding of how macromolecular architecture affects antibacterial activity remains limited. To address this, we investigated whether varying architectures of a series of block and statistical co-oligomers influenced antibacterial and hemolytic activity.

Problematisation and regulation: Bodies, risk, and recovery within the context of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.

Background: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is an anticipated effect of maternal drug use during pregnancy. Yet it remains a contested area of policy and practice. In this paper, we contribute to ongoing debates about the way NAS is understood and responded to, through different treatment regimes, or logics of care.

Cationic Acrylate Oligomers Comprising Amino Acid Mimic Moieties Demonstrate Improved Antibacterial Killing Efficiency.

Cu(0)-mediated polymerization was employed to synthesize a library of structurally varied cationic polymers and their application as antibacterial peptide mimics was assessed. Eight platform polymers were first synthesized with low degrees of polymerization (DP) using (2-Boc-amino)ethyl acrylate as the monomer and either ethyl α-bromoisobutyrate or dodecyl 2-bromoisobutyrate as the initiator (thus providing hydrocarbon chain termini of C or C, respectively). A two-step modification strategy was then employed to generate the final sixteen-member polymer library.

Hepatitis C in a new therapeutic era: Recontextualising the lived experience.

Aims And Objectives: To explore the experience of adults living with hepatitis C in a new era of interferon-free treatment.

Background: Hepatitis C is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, posing a significant challenge to global public health. Historically, the treatment of hepatitis C was poorly efficacious and highly demanding; however, more effective and tolerable therapies have become available in high-income nations in recent years.

The lived experience of interferon-free treatments for hepatitis C: A thematic analysis.

Background: International discourse concerning the evolution in hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy has tended to focus on improving outcomes, shortened treatment length and reduced side-effects of interferon-free regimens. How these treatments are being understood and experienced by the people receiving them has so far been overlooked. This study therefore aimed to explore the lived experience of individuals taking interferon-free HCV therapies.

"If she wants to eat…and eat and eat…fine! It's gonna feed the baby": Pregnant women and partners' perceptions and experiences of pregnancy with a BMI >40kg/m.

Introduction: women with a raised BMI are more likely to gain excessive weight in pregnancy compared to women with a BMI in the normal range. Recent behaviour change interventions have had moderate to no influence on GWG, and no effect on other perinatal outcomes. Evidence is required regarding the social and cultural contexts of weight and pregnancy.

Health-Related Quality of Life for individuals with hepatitis C: A narrative review.

Background: The assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in hepatitis C (HCV) infected individuals continues to gain importance. However, rarely do reviews of this literature consider quantitative and qualitative accounts of HRQoL collectively, which only allows partial insight into the topic. This narrative review aims to address this gap in the literature.

Causal relationship between obesity and vitamin D status: bi-directional Mendelian randomization analysis of multiple cohorts.

Background: Obesity is associated with vitamin D deficiency, and both are areas of active public health concern. We explored the causality and direction of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] using genetic markers as instrumental variables (IVs) in bi-directional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

Methods And Findings: We used information from 21 adult cohorts (up to 42,024 participants) with 12 BMI-related SNPs (combined in an allelic score) to produce an instrument for BMI and four SNPs associated with 25(OH)D (combined in two allelic scores, separately for genes encoding its synthesis or metabolism) as an instrument for vitamin D.

Blood pressure loci identified with a gene-centric array.

Raised blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have identified 47 distinct genetic variants robustly associated with BP, but collectively these explain only a few percent of the heritability for BP phenotypes. To find additional BP loci, we used a bespoke gene-centric array to genotype an independent discovery sample of 25,118 individuals that combined hypertensive case-control and general population samples.

Association between C reactive protein and coronary heart disease: mendelian randomisation analysis based on individual participant data.

Objective: To use genetic variants as unconfounded proxies of C reactive protein concentration to study its causal role in coronary heart disease.

Design: Mendelian randomisation meta-analysis of individual participant data from 47 epidemiological studies in 15 countries.

Participants: 194 418 participants, including 46 557 patients with prevalent or incident coronary heart disease.

Genome-wide association study of ulcerative colitis identifies three new susceptibility loci, including the HNF4A region.

Ulcerative colitis is a common form of inflammatory bowel disease with a complex etiology. As part of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2, we performed a genome-wide association scan for ulcerative colitis in 2,361 cases and 5,417 controls. Loci showing evidence of association at P < 1 x 10(-5) were followed up by genotyping in an independent set of 2,321 cases and 4,818 controls.

Genome-wide and fine-resolution association analysis of malaria in West Africa.

We report a genome-wide association (GWA) study of severe malaria in The Gambia. The initial GWA scan included 2,500 children genotyped on the Affymetrix 500K GeneChip, and a replication study included 3,400 children. We used this to examine the performance of GWA methods in Africa.

Genetic determinants of height growth assessed longitudinally from infancy to adulthood in the northern Finland birth cohort 1966.

Recent genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified dozens of common variants associated with adult height. However, it is unknown how these variants influence height growth during childhood. We derived peak height velocity in infancy (PHV1) and puberty (PHV2) and timing of pubertal height growth spurt from parametric growth curves fitted to longitudinal height growth data to test their association with known height variants.

Association scan of 14,500 nonsynonymous SNPs in four diseases identifies autoimmunity variants.

We have genotyped 14,436 nonsynonymous SNPs (nsSNPs) and 897 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) tag SNPs from 1,000 independent cases of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and breast cancer (BC). Comparing these data against a common control dataset derived from 1,500 randomly selected healthy British individuals, we report initial association and independent replication in a North American sample of two new loci related to ankylosing spondylitis, ARTS1 and IL23R, and confirmation of the previously reported association of AITD with TSHR and FCRL3. These findings, enabled in part by increased statistical power resulting from the expansion of the control reference group to include individuals from the other disease groups, highlight notable new possibilities for autoimmune regulation and suggest that IL23R may be a common susceptibility factor for the major 'seronegative' diseases.

Rehabilitative ultrasound imaging: understanding the technology and its applications.

The use of ultrasound imaging by physical therapists is growing in popularity. This commentary has 2 aims. The first is to introduce the concept of rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI), provide a definition of the scope of this emerging tool in regard to the physical therapy profession, and describe how this relates to the larger field of medical ultrasound imaging.

The discovery of SB-435495. A potent, orally active inhibitor of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) for evaluation in man.

The introduction of a functionalised amido substituent into a series of 1-(biphenylmethylacetamido)-pyrimidones has given a series of inhibitors of recombinant lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) with sub-nanomolar potency and very encouraging developability properties. Diethylaminoethyl derivative 32, SB-435495, was selected for progression to man.

Monophosphoryl lipid A: a novel nitric oxide-mediated therapy to attenuate platelet thrombosis?

Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation. However, the benefits of NO-based therapies can be confounded by concomitant hypotension. Monophosphoryl lipid A (MLA) is a nontoxic derivative of endotoxin that purportedly increases nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity and, presumably, NO production, yet has a hemodynamically benign profile.