Trans and/or non-binary parents experience structural exclusion in family healthcare and there is a need for specialist training for healthcare professionals so that they are able to create a gender inclusive environment. As part of a continued effort to address health inequity this study explores the body experiences of infant feeding within trans and non binary communities. Semi structured interviews were conducted with seven trans or non-binary parents, based in the United Kingdom, who have experienced chestfeeding or breastfeeding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The methodologies for clinical research trials are evolving to greater usage of social media platforms, providing opportunities to incorporate smart technologies in their delivery. Research Nurses should consider how they can utilise platforms for public engagement in trials.
Aim: To explore the experiences of social media platforms and clinical research trials in a healthy population group, to gain insight into how clinical researchers can utilise these platforms professionally and ethically.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
November 2023
COVID-19 impacted the mental health of many people in the UK. The negative impact was especially substantial among vulnerable population groups, including migrants. While research has focused on the negative aspects of mental health during the pandemic, the positive mental health of migrants in the UK during COVID-19 remained to be evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPoor mental health of healthcare students is a cause for concern in many universities. Though previous research has identified mental health shame and self-compassion as critical in this student group, how these variables differ across different healthcare disciplines remains to be evaluated. Healthcare students ( = 344; counselling, occupational therapy, social work and nursing) completed measures regarding these variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
November 2022
Background: Research suggests that an early connection with nature can benefit wellbeing into adulthood. However, there is less research assessing whether adolescents benefit from formal nature connection interventions such as forest bathing (slow mindful nature walks). This research aimed to assess whether an urban nature connection intervention (called ParkBathe) could improve adolescents' nature connection and wellbeing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Long-COVID affects over 144 million people globally. In the absence of treatments, there is a need to establish the efficacy of therapies that improve patient outcomes. Forest bathing has been demonstrated to improve physical and mental outcomes but there is no evidence in Long-COVID patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrent recommendations state that women should breastfeed their child up to 2 years and beyond. However, the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. This could in part be explained by the stigma mothers face when breastfeeding an older child.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Surgical repair of tendons is common, but function is often limited due to the formation of flexor tendon adhesions which reduce the mobility and use of the affected digit and hand. The severity of adhesion formation is dependent on numerous cellular processes many of which involve the actin cytoskeleton. Flightless I (Flii) is a highly conserved cytoskeletal protein, which has previously been identified as a potential target for improved healing of tendon injuries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Healing of tendons after injury involves the proliferation of tenocytes and the production of extracellular matrix; however, their capacity to heal is limited by poor cell density and limited growth factor activity. Flightless I (Flii) has previously been identified as an important regulator of cellular proliferation and migration, and the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of differential Flii gene expression on tenocyte function in vitro.
Methods: The role of Flii on tenocyte proliferation, migration, and contraction was assessed using established assays.
The health benefits of breastfeeding are well documented and current recommendations are that women should breastfeed their child for two years and beyond. Despite this the UK has the lowest initiation breastfeeding rates in the world. Additionally, a considerably small percentage of women who do successfully initiate go on to breastfeed past infancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFlightless I (Flii) is an actin remodeling protein that affects cellular processes including adhesion, proliferation and migration. In order to determine the role of Flii during carcinogenesis, squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) were induced in Flii heterozygous (Flii+/-), wild-type and Flii overexpressing (FliiTg/Tg) mice by intradermal injection of 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA). Flii levels were further assessed in biopsies from human SCCs and the human SCC cell line (MET-1) was used to determine the effect of Flii on cellular invasion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cytoskeletal protein Flightless (Flii) is a negative regulator of wound healing. Upregulation of Flii is associated with impaired migration, proliferation and adhesion of both fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Importantly, Flii translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in response to wounding in fibroblasts but not keratinocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDevelopment of an intact epidermis is critical for maintaining the integrity of the skin. Patients with epidermolysis bullosa (EB) experience multiple erosions, which breach the epidermal barrier and lead to increased microbial colocalization of wounds, infections and sepsis. The cytoskeletal protein Flightless I (Flii) is a known regulator of both development and wound healing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWound Repair Regen
December 2012
Wound healing is an important area of widely unmet medical need, with millions of procedures carried out worldwide which could potentially benefit from a product to improve the wound repair process. Our studies investigating the actin-remodeling protein Flightless I (Flii) show it to be an important regulator of wound healing. Flii-deficient mice have enhanced wound healing in comparison to Flii overexpressing mice which have impaired wound healing.
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