Barriers to partnership working within dementia services for people from south Asian communities.

People from South Asian communities are under-represented at all levels of dementia services. Consequently, there is pressure for the statutory sector to deliver services in partnership with Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprises (VCFSEs). This study set out to explore the constraints to effective partnership working which prevent dementia care from being delivered in an equitable way.

Researching COVID to enhance recovery (RECOVER) pediatric study protocol: Rationale, objectives and design.

Importance: The prevalence, pathophysiology, and long-term outcomes of COVID-19 (post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 [PASC] or "Long COVID") in children and young adults remain unknown. Studies must address the urgent need to define PASC, its mechanisms, and potential treatment targets in children and young adults.

Observations: We describe the protocol for the Pediatric Observational Cohort Study of the NIH's REsearching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative.

Preference for high-carbohydrate foods does not change for children and adolescents in insulin-induced hypoglycemia.

Introduction: Hypoglycemia elicits coordinated counter-regulatory neuroendocrine responses. The extent to which this process involves an increased drive to eat, together with greater preference for foods high in carbohydrate content, is unclear. Our objective was to examine this effect in children and adolescents (age 5-19 years) without diabetes and no prior known experience of hypoglycemic episodes.

Spectral Diversification and Trans-Species Allelic Polymorphism during the Land-to-Sea Transition in Snakes.

Snakes are descended from highly visual lizards [1] but have limited (probably dichromatic) color vision attributed to a dim-light lifestyle of early snakes [2-4]. The living species of front-fanged elapids, however, are ecologically very diverse, with ∼300 terrestrial species (cobras, taipans, etc.) and ∼60 fully marine sea snakes, plus eight independently marine, amphibious sea kraits [1].

Recruitment of south Asian carers into a survey-based research study.

Because of challenges involved in recruitment, little research has focused on care needs of minority ethnic groups. This article reports on a study that recruited 186 British south Asian carers of people with dementia. Four obstacles were faced: language barriers, confusion over research, feelings of shame/stigma, and mistrust.

Economic Impact of Implementing Malnutrition Screening and Nutritional Management in Older Adults in General Practice.

Objectives: Malnutrition is a common and significant public health problem, especially for older adults, as the consequences are costly. National guidelines (NICE CG32/QS24) highlight the need to identify and manage malnutrition, the implementation of which was deemed "high impact to produce cost savings". The 'Malnutrition Pathway', endorsed by NICE and other professional bodies, is a practical evidence-based guide to help community healthcare professionals (HCP) to implement guidance on malnutrition management.

Involving minority ethnic communities and diverse experts by experience in dementia research: The Caregiving HOPE Study.

Patient and public involvement is imperative to ensure relevance of research. There is a growing literature on the theoretical underpinning on patient and public involvement including level and processes of involvement. The aim of this paper is to describe a person-centred and culturally sensitive approach to working with minority ethnic communities, involving carers, people living with dementia, members of the public and carer support workers, as used in the Caregiving HOPE study; and the influence of the approach on the study's research processes and outcomes.

Location and structure of fibrous sheath formed after placing a tunneled hemodialysis catheter in a large pig model.

Background And Objectives: We evaluated the location and structure of the fibrous sheath formed after the placement of tunneled, cuffed hemodialysis catheters in large animals, 70 kg pigs. We focused on describing the location of the fibrous sheath in relation to the catheter. Its location explains the fibrous sheath's ability to cause catheter dysfunction by covering the catheter exit ports located at the catheter's tip.

Surgical technique of placement of an external jugular tunneled hemodialysis catheter in a large pig model.

Background: Currently, there is insufficient knowledge about the surgical anatomy and surgical techniques in large animals that can be used to test medical devices designed for human use. We encountered this problem in our study requiring the placement of jugular vein, tunneled, cuffed hemodialysis catheter in 70 kg pigs. Despite the operator's extensive expertise in placing tunneled hemodialysis catheters in humans, the important differences in anatomy made the procedure and choosing the appropriate catheter length challenging.

Schistosomiasis in European Travelers and Migrants: Analysis of 14 Years TropNet Surveillance Data.

Schistosomiasis remains one of the most prevalent parasitic diseases worldwide and the infection is frequently found in travelers and migrants. The European Network for Tropical Medicine and Travel Health conducted a sentinel surveillance study on imported schistosomiasis between 1997 and 2010. This report summarizes epidemiological and clinical data from 1,465 cases of imported schistosomiasis.

Developing a framework for gathering and using service user experiences to improve integrated health and social care: the SUFFICE framework.

Background: More people than ever receive care and support from health and social care services. Initiatives to integrate the work of health and social care staff have increased rapidly across the UK but relatively little has been done to chart and improve their impact on service users. Our aim was to develop a framework for gathering and using service user feedback to improve integrated health and social care in one locality in the North of England.

Sheep Model of Hemodialysis Arteriovenous Fistula Using Superficial Veins.

Current models of animal arteriovenous fistula (AVF) are swine models of femoral vein terminolaterally anastomosed to femoral artery, creating a deep AVF. This feature sets it aside from human AVFs using superficial veins. Our AVF model uses sheep superficial veins to create an AVF almost identical to human model.

A multinational outbreak of histoplasmosis following a biology field trip in the Ugandan rainforest.

Background: Outbreaks of histoplasmosis have been increasingly reported in association with travel to endemic areas. Multiple outbreaks have been reported following travel to the Americas, but reports of pulmonary histoplasmosis in short-term immunocompetent travelers to Africa are rare.

Methods: A biology student was referred to our unit with suspected pulmonary histoplasmosis following her return from a field trip in the Ugandan rainforest.

Impacts of gold mine waste disposal on a tropical pelagic ecosystem.

We used a comparative approach to investigate the impact of the disposal of gold mine tailings into the ocean near the Lihir mine (Niolam Island, Papua New Guinea). We found abundance and diversity of zooplankton, micronekton and pelagic fish to be similar or higher in the mine region compared to the reference site. We also found relatively high trace metal concentrations in lower trophic level groups, especially zooplankton, near the mine discharge, but few differences in tissue concentrations of micronekton, baitfish and pelagic fish between the two regions.

Direct, mediated and moderated impacts of personality variables on smoking initiation in adolescents.

Role of 'Big Five' personality traits as predictors of smoking and moderators of the intention-smoking relationship was tested. Five hundred and fifty-three adolescents (aged 11-12) completed measures of self-reported past smoking, gender, intentions to smoke, perceived behavioural control, family smoking, friends smoking at times 1 and 2 (6 months apart). At time 3, 2 years later, the same adolescents completed measures of the Big Five and self-reported smoking (a subset of 300 also provided an objective smoking measure).

Gender differences in smoking: A longitudinal study of beliefs predicting smoking in 11-15 year olds.

This longitudinal study investigated differences in beliefs and perceived behavioural control between smokers and non-smokers in a large sample of adolescents. Positive and negative instrumental beliefs, normative beliefs, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and smoking status were assessed in the same participants at 11, 13 and 15 years of age. Prospective analyses among non-smokers revealed that for boys, negative instrumental beliefs in non-smokers at age 11 predicted smoking at age 15 years.

Why do young adult smokers continue to smoke despite the health risks? A focus group study.

The focus of this article is on constructions of health and illness in relation to smoking. Specifically, we were interested in how culturally embedded health promotion messages were discussed and understood by our young smokers-and how continued smoking was rationalised in the context of a thoroughgoing anti-smoking climate. To investigate accounts of smoking maintenance, we conducted focus group discussions (N = 22 groups) with young adults from both high school and university settings.

Smoking in the lived world: how young people make sense of the social role cigarettes play in their lives.

This qualitative study explored how young people (16- to 24-year olds), both smokers and non-smokers, talk about the social role of smoking in their everyday lives. In 22 focus group interviews, 47 high school children and 40 university undergraduates participated. On the basis of analyses, it is proposed that the perceived need to smoke cannot be reduced to addiction; cigarettes appear to play a complex social role in young people's lives.

Integrative research on environmental and landscape change: PhD students' motivations and challenges.

The growing demand for integrative (interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary) approaches in the field of environmental and landscape change has increased the number of PhD students working in this area. Yet, the motivations to join integrative projects and the challenges for PhD students have so far not been investigated. The aims of this paper were to identify the understanding of PhD students with regard to integrative research, their motivations to join integrative projects, their expectations in terms of integration and results, and to reveal the challenges they face in integrative projects.

Smoking to stay thin or giving up to save face? Young men and women talk about appearance concerns and smoking.

Objective: This study was designed to investigate how young men and women smokers and non-smokers talk about the impact of smoking on appearance, with the aim of using these accounts to inform anti-smoking campaigns targeted at young people.

Design: Volunteer smokers and non-smokers took part in 24 focus groups.

Method: Eighty-seven men and women aged 17-24 were asked to talk about impacts of smoking on appearance.

Indicators of perceived naturalness as drivers of landscape preference.

The concept of naturalness is one of the more studied concepts in landscape preference research and describes how close a landscape is to a perceived natural state. In this study we explored the relationship between landscape preference and three landscape indicators of naturalness (level of succession, number of woodland patches and shape index of edges). We used computer-generated visualisations of a hypothetical landscape containing pasture and broadleaved woodland.

Impacts of gold mine waste disposal on deepwater fish in a pristine tropical marine system.

Little is known about the impacts of mine waste disposal, including deep-sea tailings, on tropical marine environments and this study presents the first account of this impact on deepwater fish communities. The Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea has deposited both excavated overburden and processed tailings slurry into the coastal environment since 1997. The abundances of fish species and trace metal concentrations in their tissues were compared between sites adjacent to and away from the mine.

The immune tissues of the endangered red-tailed phascogale (Phascogale calura).

The lymphoid tissues of the red-tailed phascogale (Phascogale calura) were examined using histological and immunohistochemical techniques. The distribution of immune cells in the tissue beds was documented using antibodies to surface markers CD3 and an MHC Class II antigen (equivalent to HLA DRII). Spleen, gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT), lung, bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) and liver were examined.