Impact of an urban city-wide Bradford clean air plan on health service use and nitrogen dioxide 24 months after implementation: An interrupted time series analysis.

There is limited evidence of the health impact of Low Emission Zones (also known as Clean Air Zones, CAZ). This study examines the impact of the Bradford Clean Air Plan (CAP), including a CAZ, on health and nitrogen dioxide (NO) in the first two years of implementation using an interrupted time series design. Primary care and emergency department visits for respiratory and cardiovascular illness in Bradford were recorded between January 2018 to September 2023 with diabetic footcare and head injury visits as controls.

Effects of home-based EEG neurofeedback training as a non-pharmacological intervention for Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: Aberrant movement-related cortical activity has been linked to impaired motor function in Parkinson's disease (PD). Dopaminergic drug treatment can restore these, but dosages and long-term treatment are limited by adverse side-effects. Effective non-pharmacological treatments could help reduce reliance on drugs.

On the pixel selection criterion for the calculation of the Pearson's correlation coefficient in fluorescence microscopy.

Colocalisation microscopy analysis provides an intuitive and straightforward way of determining if two biomolecules occupy the same diffraction-limited volume. A popular colocalisation coefficient, the Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC), can be calculated using different pixel selection criteria: PCC includes all image pixels, PCC only pixels exceeding the intensity thresholds for either one of the detection channels, and PCC only pixels exceeding the intensity thresholds for both detection channels. Our results show that PCC depends on the foreground to background ratio, producing values influenced by factors unrelated to biomolecular association.

Allelic compatibility in plant immune receptors facilitates engineering of new effector recognition specificities.

Engineering the plant immune system offers genetic solutions to mitigate crop diseases caused by diverse agriculturally significant pathogens and pests. Modification of intracellular plant immune receptors of the nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptor superfamily for expanded recognition of pathogen virulence proteins (effectors) is a promising approach for engineering disease resistance. However, engineering can cause NLR autoactivation, resulting in constitutive defense responses that are deleterious to the plant.

Study Protocol. Evaluating the life-course health impact of a city-wide system approach to improve air quality in Bradford, UK: A quasi-experimental study with implementation and process evaluation.

Background: Air quality is a major public health threat linked to poor birth outcomes, respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality. Deprived groups and children are disproportionately affected. Bradford will implement a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) as part of the Bradford Clean Air Plan (B-CAP) in 2022 to reduce pollution, providing a natural experiment.

Temporally coordinated expression of nuclear genes encoding chloroplast proteins in wheat promotes Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici infection.

Targeting host processes that allow pathogens to thrive can be invaluable in resistance breeding. Here, we generated a deep-sequencing transcriptome time course for Puccinia striiformis f. sp.

Automation and Expansion of EMMA Assembly for Fast-Tracking Mammalian System Engineering.

With applications from functional genomics to the production of therapeutic biologics, libraries of mammalian expression vectors have become a cornerstone of modern biological investigation and engineering. Multiple modular vector platforms facilitate the rapid design and assembly of vectors. However, such systems approach a technical bottleneck when a library of bespoke vectors is required.

EMMA-CAD: Design Automation for Synthetic Mammalian Constructs.

Computational design tools are the cornerstone of synthetic biology and have underpinned its rapid development over the past two decades. As the field has matured, the scale of biological investigation has expanded dramatically, and researchers often must rely on computational tools to operate in the high-throughput investigational space. This is especially apparent in the modular design of DNA expression circuits, where complexity is accumulated rapidly.

Challenges and Barriers to Adverse Event Reporting in Clinical Trials: A Children's Oncology Group Report.

Objective: Adverse event (AE) reporting is crucial for determining safety of trials. Adverse events are captured manually by clinical research associates (CRAs) and research nurses (RNs), and prior studies show underreporting. It is necessary to understand AE reporting training, processes, and institution-level differences to improve AE capture.

SCRaMbLE-in: A Fast and Efficient Method to Diversify and Improve the Yields of Heterologous Pathways in Synthetic Yeast.

The synthetic chromosome rearrangement and modification by LoxP-mediated evolution (SCRaMbLE) system is a key component of the synthetic yeast genome (Sc2.0) project, an international effort to construct an entire synthetic genome in yeast. SCRaMbLE involves the introduction of thousands of symmetrical LoxP (LoxPsym) recombination sites downstream of every nonessential gene in all 16 chromosomes, enabling numerous genome rearrangements in the form of deletions, inversions, duplications, and translocations by the Cre-LoxPsym recombination system.

A multicentre randomised feasibility STUdy evaluating the impact of a prognostic model for Management of BLunt chest wall trauma patients: STUMBL Trial.

Objective: A new prognostic model has been developed and externally validated, the aim of which is to assist in the management of the blunt chest wall trauma patient in the emergency department (ED). The aim of this trial is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a definitive impact trial investigating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a new prognostic model for the management of patients with blunt chest wall trauma in the ED.

Design: Stepped wedge feasibility trial.

Multiplex Genome Engineering for Optimizing Bioproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The field of synthetic biology is already beginning to realize its potential, with a wealth of examples showcasing the successful genetic engineering of microorganisms for the production of valuable compounds. The chassis Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been engineered to function as a microfactory for producing many of these economically and medically relevant compounds. However, strain construction and optimization to produce industrially relevant titers necessitate a wealth of underpinning biological knowledge alongside large investments of capital and time.

EMMA assembly explained: A step-by-step guide to assemble synthetic mammalian vectors.

Construction of expression vectors is imperative for many areas of biological research and the biotechnology industry. Modular cloning systems for expression vector construction offer a labor- and cost-effective alternative to overcome drawbacks associated with traditional cloning methods. We developed an Extensible Mammalian Modular Assembly toolkit (EMMA) as an efficient and versatile tool to facilitate the construction of functionally diverse mammalian expression vectors from a standardized library of DNA parts.

Development of Electronic Chemotherapy Roadmaps for Pediatric Oncology Patients.

A chemotherapy roadmap is a summary of the chemotherapy plan for a pediatric oncology patient. Chemotherapy roadmaps exist as paper documents for most, if not all, pediatric oncology programs. Paper chemotherapy roadmaps are associated with risks that can negatively affect the safety of the chemotherapy process.

Protocol for a multicentre randomised feasibility STUdy evaluating the impact of a prognostic model for Management of BLunt chest wall trauma patients: STUMBL trial.

Introduction: A new prognostic model has been developed and externally validated, the aim of which is to assist in the management of the blunt chest wall trauma patient in the emergency department (ED). A definitive randomised controlled trial (impact trial) is required to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of the new model before it can be accepted in clinical practice. The purpose of this trial is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of such a definitive trial and inform its design.

Two Hour Evaluation and Referral Model for Shorter Turnaround Times in the emergency department.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the implementation of a novel ED model of care, which combines clinical streaming, team-based assessment and early senior consultation to reduce length of stay.

Methods: A pre-post-intervention study was used to compare ED performance following an extensive clinical redesign programme. Clinical teams and work sequences were reconfigured to promote the role of the staff specialist, with a focus on earlier decisions regarding disposition.

The Evolving Role of the Program Coordinator: Five Essential Skills for the Coordinator Toolbox.

As ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) requirements have expanded and become increasingly more complex, so has the role of the program coordinator. Over the last decade, the knowledge and skills required to capably administer residency and fellowship training programs have increased in both volume and complexity. Today's coordinators are responsible for more than clerical tasks.

A pharmacoeconomic approach to assessing the costs and benefits of air quality interventions that improve health: a case study.

Objective: This paper explores the use of pharmacoeconomic methods of valuation to health impacts resulting from exposure to poor air quality. In using such methods, interventions that reduce exposure to poor air quality can be directly compared, in terms of value for money (or cost-effectiveness), with competing demands for finite resources, including other public health interventions.

Design: Using results estimated as part of a health impact assessment regarding a West Yorkshire Low Emission Zone strategy, this paper quantifies cost-saving and health-improving implications of transport policy through its impact on air quality.

Ambulatory care for older people living with frailty: an innovative use of the medical day hospital.

Medical day hospitals (MDH) provide multidisciplinary care to older people living with frailty in an outpatient or day-case setting. Given the pressures on UK emergency departments (ED) combined with the rising numbers of frail older adults presenting as emergencies, we hypothesised that it would be possible for our MDH to be used to provide multidisciplinary ambulatory care for a subset of older patients presenting to ED. With adequate resources, this could potentially provide comprehensive geriatric assessment in an older-friendly environment with the additional benefit of improved flow within the ED.

Best Practices for Chemotherapy Administration in Pediatric Oncology: Quality and Safety Process Improvements (2015).

The administration of chemotherapy to children with cancer is a high-risk process that must be performed in a safe and consistent manner with high reliability. Clinical trials play a major role in the treatment of children with cancer; conformance to chemotherapy protocol requirements and accurate documentation in the medical record are critical. Inconsistencies in the administration and documentation of chemotherapy were identified as opportunities for errors to occur.

Predicting outcomes after blunt chest wall trauma: development and external validation of a new prognostic model.

Introduction: Blunt chest wall trauma accounts for over 15% of all trauma admissions to Emergency Departments worldwide. Reported mortality rates vary between 4 and 60%. Management of this patient group is challenging as a result of the delayed on-set of complications.

Effectiveness of a geriatrician in the emergency department in facilitating safe admission prevention of older patients.

The decision to admit a frail older patient is rarely made by a geriatrician and often falls to staff in the emergency department (ED), who may not have the training to balance the risks, benefits and alternatives. We based a consultant geriatrician in the ED with the primary aim of facilitating admission prevention for older patients and this was achieved for 64% (543/848) of patients. A secondary aim was to facilitate direct admission to elderly care wards when admission was necessary, and this was achieved for 57% of admitted patients (174/305).