Machine learning enhances genotoxicity assessment using MultiFlow® DNA damage assay.

Genotoxicity is a critical determinant for assessing the safety of pharmaceutical drugs, their metabolites, and impurities. Among genotoxicity tests, mechanistic assays such as the MultiFlow® DNA damage assay (MFA) allows the investigations on mode of action (MoA) of DNA damage through four mechanistic markers recorded at two time points. Previous studies have shown that machine learning (ML) can enhance precision on classifying the MoA of genotoxicants.

Trait responsiveness to verbal suggestions predicts nocebo responding: A meta-analysis.

Background: Nocebo responding involves the experience of adverse health outcomes in response to contextual cues. These deleterious responses impact numerous features of mental and physical health but are characterized by pronounced heterogeneity. Suggestion is widely recognized as a contributing factor to nocebo responding but the moderating role of trait responsiveness to verbal suggestions (suggestibility) in nocebo responding remains poorly understood.

Do errors in the GHQ-12 response options matter?

Background: The twelve item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) is a widely used measure of psychological wellbeing. Because there are seven different sets of response options across the twelve items, there is scope for transcription errors to occur when researchers assemble their study materials. The impact of such errors might be more important if they occur in the first set of response options than if they occur later in the questionnaire, once participants have become aware that options to the right of the GHQ-12 response sets always indicate worse wellbeing.

The changing nature of worry about COVID-19 among the English public: a secondary analysis of 73 national, cross-sectional surveys, January 2020 to April 2022.

Objectives: To investigate worry about COVID-19 during the pandemic, and whether worry was associated with phase of the pandemic, COVID-19 death and incidence rates, Government interventions (including lockdown and advertising), age, being clinically at-risk, ethnicity, thinking that the Government had put the right measures in place, perceived risk of COVID-19 to self and the UK, and perceived severity of COVID-19.

Design: Secondary analysis of a series of cross-sectional surveys.

Setting: 73 online surveys conducted for the English Department of Health and Social Care between 28 January 2020 and 13 April 2022.

Mpox knowledge, behaviours and barriers to public health measures among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in the UK: a qualitative study to inform public health guidance and messaging.

Background: The 2022-23 mpox epidemic is the first-time sustained community transmission had been reported in countries without epidemiological links to endemic areas. During that period, the outbreak almost exclusively affected sexual networks of gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) and people living with HIV. In efforts to control transmission, multiple public health measures were implemented, including vaccination, contact tracing and isolation.

Why do children attend school, engage in other activities or socialise when they have symptoms of an infectious illness? A cross-sectional survey.

Objectives: To prevent the spread of infectious disease, children are typically asked not to attend school, clubs or other activities, or socialise with others while they have specific symptoms. Despite this, many children continue to participate in these activities while symptomatic.

Design And Setting: We commissioned a national cross-sectional survey with data collected between 19 November and 18 December 2021.

Understanding adherence to self-isolation in the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study.

Background: During the early "containment" phase of the COVID-19 response in England (January-March 2020), contact tracing was managed by Public Health England (PHE). Adherence to self-isolation during this phase and how people were making those decisions has not previously been determined. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of decisions around adherence to self-isolation during the first phase of the COVID-19 response in England.

Parent-reported child's close contact with non-household family members and their well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey.

In England (UK), at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the public were required to reduce their physical contacts to slow the spread of COVID-19. We investigated the factors associated with children having: 1) close contact with family members from outside their household ('non-adherent behaviour'); and 2) low well-being (Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale). We conducted an online cross-sectional survey, completed at any location of the participant's choice between 8 and 11 June 2020 in parents (n = 2,010) who were aged eighteen years or over and had a school-aged child (4-18 years old).

Did mpox knowledge, attitudes and beliefs affect intended behaviour in the general population and men who are gay, bisexual and who have sex with men? An online cross-sectional survey in the UK.

Objectives: To investigate rates of mpox beliefs, knowledge and intended behaviours in the general population and in gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), and factors associated with intended behaviours. To test the impact of motivational messages (vs a factual control) on intended behaviours.

Design: Cross-sectional online survey including a nested randomised controlled trial.

Effectiveness of testing, contact tracing and isolation interventions among the general population on reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review.

We conducted a systematic literature review of general population testing, contact tracing, case isolation and contact quarantine interventions to assess their effectiveness in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, as implemented in real-world settings. We designed a broad search strategy and aimed to identify peer-reviewed studies of any design provided there was a quantitative measure of effectiveness on a transmission outcome. Studies that assessed the effect of testing or diagnosis on disease outcomes via treatment, but did not assess a transmission outcome, were not included.

Factors associated with wearing a facemask in shops in England following removal of a legal requirement to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: We aimed to identify psychological factors associated with the use of facemasks in shops in England following removal of legal requirements to do so, and to compare associations with and without legal restrictions.

Design: Repeated cross-sectional online surveys (n ≈ 2000 adults) between August 2020 and April 2022 (68,716 responses from 45,682 participants) using quota sampling.

Methods: The outcome measure was whether those who had visited a shop for essentials in the previous seven days reported always having worn a facemask versus sometimes or not at all.

The effect of nocebo explanation and empathy on side-effect expectations of medication use following a fictional GP consultation.

The simple act of informing patients about side-effects increases the likelihood they will experience them (i.e. the nocebo effect).

The Agile Co-production and Evaluation framework for developing public health interventions, messaging and guidance.

A lesson identified from the COVID-19 pandemic is that we need to extend existing best practice for intervention development. In particular, we need to integrate (a) state-of-the-art methods of rapidly coproducing public health interventions and messaging to support all population groups to protect themselves and their communities with (b) methods of rapidly evaluating co-produced interventions to determine which are acceptable and effective. This paper describes the Agile Co-production and Evaluation (ACE) framework, which is intended to provide a focus for investigating new ways of rapidly developing effective interventions and messaging by combining co-production methods with large-scale testing and/or real-world evaluation.

The impact of "freedom day" on COVID-19 health protective behaviour in England: An observational study of hand hygiene, face covering use and physical distancing in public spaces pre and post the relaxing of restrictions.

Objectives: To study the prevalence of COVID-19 health protective behaviours before and after rules eased in England on the 19 July 2021.

Design: Observational study pre (12-18 July) and post (26 July-1 August) 19 July, and a cross-sectional online survey (26 to 27 July).

Setting: Observations occurred in supermarkets (n = 10), train stations (n = 10), bus stops (n = 10), a coach station (n = 1) and a London Underground station (n = 1).

Psychosocial factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the UK: A prospective cohort study (CoVAccS - Wave 3).

Background: We investigated factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake, future vaccination intentions, and changes in beliefs and attitudes over time.

Methods: Prospective cohort study. 1500 participants completed an online survey in January 2021 (T1, start of vaccine rollout in the UK), of whom 1148 (response rate 76.

Observed and self-reported COVID-19 health protection behaviours on a university campus and the impact of a single simple intervention.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most data on adherence to health protective behaviours were collected via a self-report. We quantified the discrepancy between self-report data and discretely observed behaviour in a sample of university staff and students. We assessed the prevalence of cleaning hands, wearing a face-covering and maintaining distance from others.

A qualitative study about how families coped with managing their well-being, children's physical activity and education during the COVID-19 school closures in England.

In 2020, schools in England closed for six months due to COVID-19, resulting in children being home-schooled. There is limited understanding about the impacts of this on children's mental and physical health and their education. Therefore, we explored how families coped with managing these issues during the school closures.

Psychological factors associated with reporting side effects following COVID-19 vaccination: A prospective cohort study (CoVAccS - Wave 3).

Objective: To investigate symptom reporting following the first and second COVID-19 vaccine doses, attribution of symptoms to the vaccine, and factors associated with symptom reporting.

Methods: Prospective cohort study (T1: 13-15 January 2021, T2: 4-15 October 2021). Participants were aged 18 years or older, living in the UK.