Child, family and professional views on valued communication outcomes for non-verbal children with neurodisability: A qualitative meta-synthesis.

Background: There are many children with neurodisability who are unable to rely on speech to communicate and so use a range of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods and strategies to get their message across. Current instruments designed to measure the outcomes of speech and language therapy interventions lack specific attention to communication outcomes that are valued by non-verbal children with neurodisability, their families and support networks. This qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to identify valued communication outcomes to inform the next stage of developing a novel outcome measure.

Experiences, acceptability and feasibility of an isometric exercise intervention for stage 1 hypertension: embedded qualitative study in a randomised controlled feasibility trial.

Background: Healthy lifestyle changes for patients with stage 1 hypertension are recommended before antihypertensive medication. Exercise has antihypertensive benefits; however, low adoption and high attrition are common. Patients need easily adoptable, effective and manageable exercise interventions that can be sustained for life.

Accuracy of glomerular filtration rate estimation using creatinine and cystatin C for identifying and monitoring moderate chronic kidney disease: the eGFR-C study.

Background: Estimation of glomerular filtration rate using equations based on creatinine is widely used to manage chronic kidney disease. In the UK, the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration creatinine equation is recommended. Other published equations using cystatin C, an alternative marker of kidney function, have not gained widespread clinical acceptance.

A multicomponent psychosocial intervention to reduce substance use by adolescents involved in the criminal justice system: the RISKIT-CJS RCT.

Background: Substance use and offending are related in the context of other disinhibitory behaviours. Adolescents involved in the criminal justice system constitute a particularly vulnerable group, with a propensity to engage in risky behaviour that has long-term impact on their future health and well-being. Previous research of the RISKIT programme provided evidence of a potential effect in reducing substance use and risky behaviour in adolescents.

Delivering clinical studies of exercise in the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and adaptations using a feasibility trial of isometric exercise to treat hypertension as an exemplar.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted on the delivery of clinical trials in the UK, posing complicated organisational challenges and requiring adaptations, especially to exercise intervention studies based in the community. We aim to identify the challenges of public involvement, recruitment, consent, follow-up, intervention and the healthcare professional delivery aspects of a feasibility study of exercise in hypertensive primary care patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. While these challenges elicited many reactive changes which were specific to, and only relevant in the context of 'lockdown' requirements, some of the protocol developments that came about during this unprecedented period have great potential to inform more permanent practices for carrying out this type of research.

Feasibility study to assess the delivery of a novel isometric exercise intervention for people with stage 1 hypertension in the NHS: protocol for the IsoFIT-BP study including amendments to mitigate the risk of COVID-19.

Background: Hypertension  (HTN) affects approximately 25% of the UK population and is a leading cause of mortality. Associated annual health care costs run into billions. National treatment guidance includes initial lifestyle advice, followed by anti-hypertensive medication if blood pressure (BP) remains high.

Brief interventions to prevent excessive alcohol use in adolescents at low-risk presenting to Emergency Departments: Three-arm, randomised trial of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.

Background: Alcohol consumption and related harm increase rapidly from the age of 12 years. We evaluated whether alcohol screening and brief intervention is effective and cost-effective in delaying hazardous or harmful drinking amongst low-risk or abstaining adolescents attending Emergency Departments (EDs).

Methods: This ten-centre, three-arm, parallel-group, single-blind, pragmatic, individually randomised trial screened ED attenders aged between 14 and 17 years for alcohol consumption.

Acceptability and Feasibility of an Isometric Resistance Exercise Program for Abdominal Cancer Surgery: An Embedded Qualitative Study.

Although it is recognized in the early stages of cancer recovery that changes in lifestyle including increases in physical activity improves physical function, there are no clear findings whether low versus moderate intensity activity or home or gym exercise offer optimal benefit. Isometric-resistance exercises can be carried out with very little equipment and space and can be performed while patients are bed-bound in hospital or at home. This embedded qualitative study, based in an English hospital trust providing specialist cancer care, was undertaken as a component of a feasibility trial to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of an isometric-resistance exercise program and explore the suitability of functional assessments by drawing from the experiences of abdominal cancer patients following surgery.

Protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial of a musculoskeletal exercise intervention versus usual care for children with haemophilia.

Introduction: Haemophilia is a rare, inherited disorder in which blood does not clot normally, resulting in bleeding into joints and muscles. Long-term consequence is disabling joint pain, stiffness, muscle weakness, atrophy and reduced mobility. The purpose of this proposed feasibility of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) is to test the feasibility of an age-appropriate physiotherapy intervention designed to improve muscle strength, posture and the way boys use their joints during walking and everyday activities.

Evaluation of a Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) based breath intervention for patients with mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety disorders.

Aim: Research identifies a need for expanded therapeutic options for people with mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety disorders treated within the UK National Health Service (NHS). We aimed to examine potential benefits of a Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) based breath intervention delivered in this context.

Background: SKY is a structured programme derived from yoga in which participants are taught relaxation and stress-management techniques including body postures, breathing exercises and cognitive-behavioural procedures.

Biological variation of measured and estimated glomerular filtration rate in patients with chronic kidney disease.

When assessing changes in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) it is important to differentiate pathological change from intrinsic biological and analytical variation. GFR is measured using complex reference methods (e.g.

Effects of preoperative and postoperative resistance exercise interventions on recovery of physical function in patients undergoing abdominal surgery for cancer: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Objective: To systematically review the effects of preoperative and postoperative resistance exercise training on the recovery of physical function in patients undergoing abdominal surgery for cancer.

Data Sources: A systematic review of English articles using Medline, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library electronic databases was undertaken.

Eligibility Criteria For Selecting Studies: Studies were included if they used a randomised, quasi-randomised or controlled trial study design and compared the effects of a muscle-strengthening exercise intervention (±other therapy) with a comparative non-exercise group; involved adult participants (≥18 years) who had elected to undergo abdominal surgery for cancer; and used muscle strength, physical function, self-reported functional ability, range of motion and/or a performance-based test as an outcome measure.

Does a modified mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course have the potential to reduce stress and burnout in NHS GPs? Feasibility study.

AimTo explore, for the first time, whether a modified mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course has the potential to reduce stress and burnout among National Health Service (NHS) General Practitioners. BACKGROUND: There is a crisis of low morale among NHS GPs, with most describing their workload as 'unmanageable'. MBCT has been demonstrated to improve stress and burnout in other populations, but has not yet been evaluated in a cohort of NHS GPs.

Pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a multi-component intervention to reduce substance use and risk-taking behaviour in adolescents involved in the criminal justice system: A trial protocol (RISKIT-CJS).

Background: Adolescence is a critical developmental stage when young people make lifestyle choices that have the potential to impact on their current and future health and social wellbeing. The relationship between substance use and criminal activity is complex but there is clear evidence that the prevalence of problematic substance use is far higher among adolescent offenders than the general adolescent population. Adolescent offenders are a marginalized and vulnerable population who are significantly more likely to experience health and social inequalities in later life than their non-offending peers.