Relationships of Bone Mineral Density to Whole Body Mass, Fat Mass and Fat-free Mass in Long-term Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Childhood.

Body size influences bone mineral density (BMD) in health. Relationships of BMD with body mass index, fat mass (FM), fat-free mass, and appendicular lean mass were explored in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors (n=75; 41 males; 45 standard risk ALL) >10 years from diagnosis. Dual energy radiograph absorptiometry performed body composition analysis.

Facilitators and barriers to teaching undergraduate medical students in general practice.

Context: Globally, primary health care is facing workforce shortages. Longer and higher-quality placements in primary care increase the likelihood of medical students choosing this specialty. However, the recruitment and retention of community primary care teachers are challenging.

Effectiveness of health education materials in general practice waiting rooms: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Health education materials (HEMs) are widely used in general practice. However, there is little information on the variety of HEMs currently available to patients in the UK, or their preferences for accessing educational materials.

Aim: To assess patients' perceptions of HEMs, and the variety and accessibility of these materials.

Clinical realism: a new literary genre and a potential tool for encouraging empathy in medical students.

Background: Empathy has been re-discovered as a desirable quality in doctors. A number of approaches using the medical humanities have been advocated to teach empathy to medical students. This paper describes a new approach using the medium of creative writing and a new narrative genre: clinical realism.

Clinical outcomes using a faecal immunochemical test for haemoglobin as a first-line test in a national programme constrained by colonoscopy capacity.

Introduction: Because of their many advantages, faecal immunochemical tests (FIT) are superseding traditional guaiac-based faecal occult blood tests in bowel screening programmes.

Methods: A quantitative FIT was adopted for use in two evaluation National Health Service (NHS) Boards in Scotland using a cut-off faecal haemoglobin concentration chosen to give a positivity rate equivalent to that achieved in the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme. Uptake and clinical outcomes were compared with results obtained contemporaneously in two other similar NHS Boards and before and after the evaluation in the two evaluation NHS Boards.

Deprivation and faecal haemoglobin: implications for bowel cancer screening.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between deprivation and faecal haemoglobin concentration (f-Hb).

Setting: Scottish Bowel Screening Programme.

Methods: A total of 66725 men and women, aged 50 to 74, were invited to provide a single sample for a faecal immunochemical test.

Use of a faecal immunochemical test narrows current gaps in uptake for sex, age and deprivation in a bowel cancer screening programme.

Objectives: To investigate the characteristics of participants screened for bowel cancer using a faecal immunochemical test for haemoglobin (FIT).

Setting: Scottish Bowel Screening Programme.

Methods: 65909 men and women in two NHS Boards, aged 50 to 74, were invited to participate in an evaluation of FIT as a first-line test.

Faecal haemoglobin concentration is related to severity of colorectal neoplasia.

Aims: Guaiac faecal occult blood tests are being replaced by faecal immunochemical tests (FIT). We investigated whether faecal haemoglobin concentration (f-Hb) was related to stage in progression of colorectal neoplasia, studying cancer and adenoma characteristics in an evaluation of quantitative FIT as a first-line screening test.

Methods: We invited 66 225 individuals aged 50-74 years to provide one sample of faeces.

Experience with a two-tier reflex gFOBT/FIT strategy in a national bowel screening programme.

Objectives: To evaluate a two-tier reflex guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (gFOBT)/faecal immunochemical test (FIT) algorithm in screening for colorectal cancer.

Setting: Fourth screening round in NHS Tayside (Scotland).

Methods: gFOBT were sent to 50-74-year-olds.

Faecal haemoglobin concentrations by gender and age: implications for population-based screening for colorectal cancer.

Background: Faecal immunochemical tests (FIT) are becoming widely used in colorectal cancer screening. Estimation of faecal haemoglobin concentration in a large group prompted an observational study on gender and age.

Methods: A single estimate of faecal haemoglobin concentration was made using quantitative automated immunoturbidimetry.

The Shaping of the Face Space in Early Infancy: Becoming a Native Face Processor.

Face perception remains one of the most intensively researched areas in psychology and allied disciplines, and there has been much debate regarding the early origins and experiential determinants of face processing. This article reviews studies, the majority of which have appeared in the past decade, that discuss possible mechanisms underlying face perception at birth and document the prominent role of experience in shaping infants' face-processing abilities. In the first months of life, infants develop a preference for female and own-race faces and become better able to recognize and categorize own-race and own-species faces.

Transitioning from clinical practice to nursing faculty: lessons learned.

Entering into academia as a nurse educator requires a major transition from the practice arena to the educational world. The nurse, often an expert clinician, enters as a novice educator. Lessons learned from personal experience and a literature review were integrated.

Covert detection of attractiveness among the neurologically intact: evidence from skin-conductance responses.

Several studies have shown that participants, without a deficit in face recognition, give an increased skin conductance response (SCR) to familiar faces when presented subliminally, hence suggesting covert recognition of these faces. In the experiment presented here we manipulated familiarity and attractiveness and tested whether participants distinguished between faces for these variables when presented too fast to allow conscious recognition. Three sets of faces were presented: famous attractive; unfamiliar attractive; and unfamiliar less attractive.

The Hallmarks Survey: for those who care enough to teach the very best.

The Hallmarks Survey is based on the 85 indicators recommended by the National League for Nursing (NLN) for the Hallmarks of Excellence in Nursing Education. With permission from the NLN, graduate students in nursing education developed this survey as a holistic and systematic tool for nurse faculty to use for assessment of program components. Analysis of data from 53 faculty respondents yielded areas of strength and areas for development for each hallmark category.

A description of travel medicine in general practice: a postal questionnaire survey.

Background: Travel-related diseases are important aspects of public health. The number of UK residents traveling abroad is increasing at a rate of 16% a year, thereby increasing exposure to travel-related morbidity. Provision of comprehensive pretravel health advice is essential to reduce this trend.

Immune response to meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccine in asplenic individuals.

Asplenic individuals are known to be at increased risk of infection with encapsulated bacteria. Recent United Kingdom recommendations stated that this at-risk group should receive one dose of the meningococcal serogroup C conjugate (MCC) vaccine. However, the immune response of asplenic individuals to MCC vaccine is unknown.

Effects of Acacia condensed tannins on urinary parameters, body mass, and diet choice of an Acacia specialist rodent, Thallomys nigricauda.

The aim of this study was to investigate the dietary and physiological effects of condensed tannin ingestion on foregut fermenters, using Thallomys nigricauda, a folivorous rodent, as a model. We initially investigated the variability in physiological parameters, such as daily body mass (DMb), daily feed intake, daily fecal energy loss (FE), daily energy intake (DEI), daily urine pH, and daily urinary ammonia and urea concentrations, in response to different diets with low condensed tannin levels. This experiment was conducted to identify which physiological variables showed the least variation in the absence of tannin.