Automated treatment planning with deep reinforcement learning for head-and-neck (HN) cancer intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).

To develop a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) agent to self-interact with the treatment planning system to automatically generate intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plans for head-and-neck (HN) cancer with consistent organ-at-risk (OAR) sparing performance.With IRB approval, one hundred and twenty HN patients receiving IMRT were included. The DRL agent was trained with 20 patients.

Establishing a standardised approach for the measurement of neonatal noxious-evoked brain activity in response to an acute somatic nociceptive heel lance stimulus.

Background: Electroencephalography (EEG) can be used in neonates to measure brain activity changes that are evoked by noxious events, such as clinically required immunisations, cannulation and heel lancing for blood tests. EEG provides an alternative approach to infer pain experience in infants compared with more commonly used behavioural and physiological pain assessments. Establishing the generalisability and construct validity of these measures will help corroborate the use of brain-derived outcomes to evaluate the efficacy of new or existing pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods to treat neonatal pain.

Social health and subsequent cognitive functioning in people aged 50 years and older: examining the mediating roles of depressive symptoms and inflammatory biomarkers in two European longitudinal studies.

Background: Social health markers, including marital status, contact frequency, network size, and social support, have been shown to be associated with cognition. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain poorly understood. We investigated whether depressive symptoms and inflammation mediated associations between social health and subsequent cognition.

Lifecourse trajectories and cross-generational trends in social isolation: Findings from five successive British birth cohort studies.

Despite growing concerns in the UK about social isolation, there remains a lack of data on the extent and time trends of social isolation from longitudinal, population-based studies. There is also little research that assesses the multiple domains of social isolation across the lifecourse and between generations in a holistic way accounting for different contexts. By applying a multi-context, multi-domain framework of social isolation to 5 successive British birth cohorts, we provide conceptual and empirical understanding of social isolation trajectories across the lifecourse and identify potential generational and sex differences in trends.

Effect of parental touch on relieving acute procedural pain in neonates and parental anxiety (Petal): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial in the UK.

Background: Touch interventions such as massage and skin-to-skin contact relieve neonatal pain. The Parental touch trial (Petal) aimed to assess whether parental stroking of their baby before a clinically required heel lance, at a speed of approximately 3 cm/s to optimally activate C-tactile nerve fibres, provides effective pain relief.

Methods: Petal is a multicentre, randomised, parallel-group interventional superiority trial conducted in the John Radcliffe Hospital (Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK) and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Exeter, UK).