Intravenous Lidocaine for Gut Function Recovery in Colonic Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Despite the recovery advantages of minimally invasive surgical techniques, delayed return of gut function after colectomy is a common barrier to timely discharge from hospital.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of 2% perioperative intravenous lidocaine infusion on return of gut function after elective minimally invasive colon resection.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The ALLEGRO trial was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial conducted in 27 UK hospitals.

The environment to the rescue: can physics help predict predator-prey interactions?

Understanding the factors that determine the occurrence and strength of ecological interactions under specific abiotic and biotic conditions is fundamental since many aspects of ecological community stability and ecosystem functioning depend on patterns of interactions among species. Current approaches to mapping food webs are mostly based on traits, expert knowledge, experiments, and/or statistical inference. However, they do not offer clear mechanisms explaining how trophic interactions are affected by the interplay between organism characteristics and aspects of the physical environment, such as temperature, light intensity or viscosity.

Formation of a conceptual framework during the development of a patient-reported outcome measure for early gastrointestinal recovery: phase I of the PRO-diGi study.

Aim: Patients admitted to hospital for abdominal surgery often experience gastrointestinal dysfunction. Many studies have reported outcomes following gastrointestinal dysfunction, yet there is no unified definition of recovery or a validated patient-reported outcome measure (PROM). The first stage of PROM development requires formation of a conceptual framework to identify key themes to patients.

Bridging that gap: a qualitative study of perceptions of equality, diversity and inclusivity in colorectal surgery in the UK and Ireland.

Background: There is a growing recognition on the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within surgery and the need to diversify the surgical community and its various organisations, in a bidto reflect the diverse populations they serve. To create, sustain and encourage a diverse surgical workforce requires an in-depth understanding of the current makeup of key surgical institutions, relevant issues pertaining to EDI and appropriate solutions and strategies to ensure tangible change.

Objectives: Following on from the recent Kennedy Review into Diversity and Inclusion commissioned by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the aim of this qualitative study was to understand the EDI issues which affected the membership of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, while seeking appropriate solutions to address them.

Caffeine Consumption Helps Honey Bees Fight a Bacterial Pathogen.

Caffeine has long been used as a stimulant by humans. Although this secondary metabolite is produced by some plants as a mechanism of defense against herbivores, beneficial or detrimental effects of such consumption are usually associated with dose. The Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, can also be exposed to caffeine when foraging at and plants, and low doses as are found in the nectar of these plants seem to boost memory learning and ameliorate parasite infection in bees.