Publications by authors named "Jack Birch"

Introduction: Health interventions that require significant change to individual lifestyles or social norms can pose a challenge for widespread public acceptability and uptake. At the same time, over the last two decades, there has been increasing attention paid to the rise of populist movements globally, defined by 'the people' pushing against 'an elite' viewed as depriving the people of their sovereignty. To understand potential overlap in these two areas, this study aims to synthesise existing international evidence on linkages between populist attitudes and reduced uptake, acceptability, adherence and/or effectiveness of public health interventions.

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In the context of relapsed and refractory childhood pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (R/R B-ALL), CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells often induce durable remissions, which requires the persistence of CAR-T cells. In this study, we systematically analyzed CD19 CAR-T cells of 10 children with R/R B-ALL enrolled in the CARPALL trial via high-throughput single-cell gene expression and T cell receptor sequencing of infusion products and serial blood and bone marrow samples up to 5 years after infusion. We show that long-lived CAR-T cells developed a CD4/CD8 double-negative phenotype with an exhausted-like memory state and distinct transcriptional signature.

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Introduction: It is important to identify whether behavioural weight management interventions work well across different groups in the population so health inequalities in obesity are not widened. Previous systematic reviews of inequalities in the attendance and effectiveness of behavioural weight management interventions have been limited because few trials report relevant analyses and heterogeneity in the categorisation of inequality characteristics prevents meta-analysis. An individual participant data meta-analysis (IPD-MA) allows us to reanalyse all trials with available data in a uniform way.

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Introduction: Weight loss through behavioural weight management interventions can have important health benefits for people with obesity. However, to maximise the health benefits, weight loss must be maintained. Evidence suggests that behavioural weight loss interventions do not exacerbate inequalities in the short term.

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Introduction: The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) is a commonly used scale of mental wellbeing focusing entirely on the positive aspect of mental health. It has been widely used in a broad range of clinical and research settings, including to evaluate if interventions, programmes or pilots improve wellbeing. We aimed to systematically review all interventions that used WEMWBS and evaluate which interventions are the most effective at improving wellbeing.

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There are substantial inequalities in health across society which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK government have committed to a programme of levelling-up to address geographical inequalities. Here we undertake rapid review of the evidence base on interventions to reduce such health inequalities and developed a practical, evidence-based framework to 'level up' health across the country.

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The extent to which behavioral weight management interventions affect health inequalities is uncertain, as is whether trials of these interventions directly consider inequalities. We conducted a systematic review, synthesizing evidence on how different aspects of inequality impact uptake, adherence, and effectiveness in trials of behavioral weight management interventions. We included (cluster-) randomized controlled trials of primary care-applicable behavioral weight management interventions in adults with overweight or obesity published prior to March 2020.

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Weight management interventions designed specifically for men have become more common, but the extent to which socioeconomic factors are considered in trials of these interventions is unclear. We synthesized study characteristics, methods, and reporting of interventions with a behavioral component for men that report weight as an outcome, to establish the extent to which socioeconomic factors are considered during intervention design, conduct, and reporting. A comprehensive search was conducted on Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and CENTRAL for studies published from January 2000 to July 2021.

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Introduction: Diabetes and related metabolic disorders such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a growing global issue. Equipping individuals with the necessary 'knowledge, skills and confidence to self-manage their health' (ie, patient activation (PAct)) may lead to improvements in health outcomes. It is unclear whether existing evidence allows us to assume a causal relationship.

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Objectives: To systematically reivew the observational evidence of the effect of school closures and school reopenings on SARS-CoV-2 community transmission.

Setting: Schools (including early years settings, primary schools and secondary schools).

Intervention: School closures and reopenings.

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Article Synopsis
  • In Africa, food insecurity affects half the population, exacerbated by malnutrition issues like childhood stunting and anaemia, requiring improved actions in local food production and consumption.
  • A systematic review of research from 2014 to 2018 analyzed the health, social, economic, and environmental impacts of community food production initiatives (CFPIs) in Kenya, Cameroon, and South Africa, resulting in 118 qualifying studies from an initial pool of 4,828 articles.
  • Most studies were concentrated in Kenya and South Africa, focusing primarily on economic and environmental consequences of CFPIs, with a noted lack of interdisciplinary frameworks in the design and analysis of these research efforts.
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Introduction: It has been suggested that interventions focusing on individual behaviour change, such as behavioural weight management interventions, may exacerbate health inequalities. These intervention-generated inequalities may occur at different stages, including intervention uptake, adherence and effectiveness. We will synthesise evidence on how different measures of inequality moderate the uptake, adherence and effectiveness of behavioural weight management interventions in adults.

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Aims: To examine how often general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses (PNs) working in primary care discuss alcohol with patients, what factors prompt discussions, how they approach patient discussions and whether the Chief Medical Officers' (CMO) revised low-risk drinking guidelines are appropriately advised.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey with GPs and PNs working in primary care in the UK, conducted January-March 2017 (n = 2020). A vignette exercise examined what factors would prompt a discussion about alcohol, whether they would discuss before or after a patient reported exceeded the revised CMO guidelines (14 units per week) and whether the CMO drinking guidelines were appropriately advised.

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There is good evidence that behavioural weight management interventions improve physical health; however, the impact on mental health remains unclear. We evaluated the impact of behavioural weight management interventions on mental health-related outcomes in adults with overweight or obesity at intervention-end and 12 months from baseline. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or cluster RCTs of adult behavioural weight loss interventions reporting affect, anxiety, binge eating, body image, depression, emotional eating, quality of life, self-esteem and stress.

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Background: Foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) are known to contribute to overweight and obesity. In addition to overweight and obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity are known risk factors for non-communicable diseases, including several cancers and cardiovascular disease.

Methods: Secondary analysis of UK-representative cross-sectional survey data of 3293 adults aged 18+.

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Background: Overweight and obesity is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking, causing ~3.4 million deaths worldwide. This study provides current UK data on awareness of the link between obesity and cancer by socio-demographic factors, including BMI, and explores to what degree healthcare professionals provide weight management advice to patients.

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Russell, M, Birch, J, Love, T, Cook, CJ, Bracken, RM, Taylor, T, Swift, E, Cockburn, E, Finn, C, Cunningham, D, Wilson, L, and Kilduff, LP. The effects of a single whole-body cryotherapy exposure on physiological, performance, and perceptual responses of professional academy soccer players after repeated sprint exercise. J Strength Cond Res 31(2): 415-421, 2017-In professional youth soccer players, the physiological, performance, and perceptual effects of a single whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) session performed shortly after repeated sprint exercise were investigated.

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