Living restricted lives - Understanding the impact of isolation, social distancing and other restriction measures on older care home residents and their relatives in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, care homes for older adults in England implemented isolation, social distancing and other restriction measures to help protect residents from contracting the virus. Little was known about the physical and psychological impacts that these measures would have upon residents and their relatives.

Aim: To explore the experiences of residents and their relatives of living restricted lives during the pandemic.

Challenges and guidance for implementing social distancing for COVID-19 in care homes: a mixed methods rapid review.

Background: Older people living in care homes are at high risk of poor health outcomes and mortality if they contract coronavirus disease 2019. Protective measures include social distancing and isolation, although implementation is challenging.

Objectives: To explore the real-life experiences of social distancing and isolation in care homes for older people, and to develop a toolkit of guidance and resources.

Intentional rounding: a realist evaluation using case studies in acute and care of older people hospital wards.

Background: In response to concerns about high hospital mortality rates, patient and carer complaints, a Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry was conducted at the request of the UK government. This inquiry found serious failures in the quality of basic care provided and as a consequence, recommended that patients should have more regular visits, organised at predictable times from nursing staff. Intentional rounding, also known as nursing ward rounds, was widely adopted to meet this need.

A thematic analysis of staff perspectives on the impact of a mental health nurse (RMN) in a critical care unit.

Background: Recent guidelines in the UK have shaped Critical Care Units (CCUs) to bring the mental health needs of patients, and staff wellbeing to the forefront of service provision. A health board based in NHS Wales has trialled the secondment of a Mental Health Nurse (RMN) within a CCU to help service provision adhere to such guidelines.

Methods: Critical care staff were invited to attend focus groups to share their experiences of how the RMN influenced service provision.

Near-infrared Autofluorescence Features of Parathyroid Carcinoma.

Introduction: Parathyroid carcinoma is very rare, and intraoperative definitive diagnosis can be elusive with currently available diagnostics. Near-infrared (NIR) autofluorescence is an emerging tool that identifies parathyroid glands in real time. It is not known whether NIR autofluorescence can detect parathyroid carcinoma intraoperatively.

What does Success Look Like for Leaders of Integrated Health and Social Care Systems? a Realist Review.

Introduction: Health and social care services in England are moving towards greater integration, yet little is known about how leadership of integrated care teams and systems can be supported and improved. This realist review explores what works about the leadership of integrated care teams and systems, for whom, in what circumstances and why.

Methods: A realist synthesis approach was undertaken in 2020 to explore English language literature on the leadership of integrated care teams and systems, complemented by ongoing stakeholder consultation.

is an anti-inflammatory bacterium in the respiratory tract of patients with chronic lung disease.

Background: Chronic airway inflammation is the main driver of pathogenesis in respiratory diseases such as severe asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis (CF) and bronchiectasis. While the role of common pathogens in airway inflammation is widely recognised, the influence of other microbiota members is still poorly understood.

Methods: We hypothesised that the lung microbiota contains bacteria with immunomodulatory activity which modulate net levels of immune activation by key respiratory pathogens.

Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) transmission in residential aged care using ultraviolet light (PETRA): a two-arm crossover randomised controlled trial protocol.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 poses a considerable threat to those living in residential aged care facilities (RACF). RACF COVID-19 outbreaks have been characterised by the rapid spread of infection and high rates of severe disease and associated mortality. Despite a growing body of evidence supporting airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, current infection control measures in RACF including hand hygiene, social distancing, and sterilisation of surfaces, focus on contact and droplet transmission.

Protecting older people living in care homes from COVID-19: a protocol for a mixed-methods study to understand the challenges and solutions to implementing social distancing and isolation.

Introduction: Older people living in residential and nursing care homes often have complex needs and are at high risk of poor health outcomes and mortality, especially if they contract COVID-19. Care homes use infection prevention and control measures such as social distancing and isolating residents to protect them from COVID-19. The care home sector has stated that implementing social distancing and isolation when caring for residents is a significant challenge.

Visual Analytics Dashboard Promises to Improve Hypertension Guideline Implementation.

Background: Primary care management of hypertension under new guidelines incorporates assessment of cardiovascular disease risk and commonly requires review of electronic health record (EHR) data. Visual analytics can streamline the review of complex data and may lessen the burden clinicians face using the EHR. This study sought to assess the utility of a visual analytics dashboard in addition to EHR in managing hypertension in a primary care setting.

Conventional myelosuppressive chemotherapy for non-haematological malignancy disrupts the intestinal microbiome.

Background: The gut microbiota influences many aspects of host physiology, including immune regulation, and is predictive of outcomes in cancer patients. However, whether conventional myelosuppressive chemotherapy affects the gut microbiota in humans with non-haematological malignancy, independent of antibiotic exposure, is unknown.

Methods: Faecal samples from 19 participants with non-haematological malignancy, who were receiving conventional chemotherapy regimens but not antibiotics, were examined prior to chemotherapy, 7-12 days after chemotherapy, and at the end of the first cycle of treatment.

A Spatiotemporal Tool to Project Hospital Critical Care Capacity and Mortality From COVID-19 in US Counties.

To create a tool to rapidly determine where pandemic demand for critical care overwhelms county-level surge capacity and to compare public health and medical responses. In March 2020, COVID-19 cases requiring critical care were estimated using an adaptive metapopulation SEIR (susceptible‒exposed‒infectious‒recovered) model for all 3142 US counties for future 21-day and 42-day periods from April 2, 2020, to May 13, 2020, in 4 reactive patterns of contact reduction-0%, 20%, 30%, and 40%-and 4 surge response scenarios-very low, low, medium, and high. In areas with increased demand, surge response measures could avert 104 120 additional deaths-55% through high clearance of critical care beds and 45% through measures such as greater ventilator access.

The cystic fibrosis gut as a potential source of multidrug resistant pathogens.

Background: The emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens represents a profound threat to global health. Individuals with CF have amongst the highest cumulative antibiotic exposure of any patient group, including to critically-important last-line agents. While there is little evidence that antibiotic resistance in airway pathogens results in worse clinical outcomes for CF patients, the potential emergence of MDR pathogens in non-respiratory systems, as a consequence of CF care, represents a potential health threat to the wider population, including family and carers.

Understanding key mechanisms of successfully leading integrated team-based services in health and social care: protocol for a realist synthesis.

Introduction: As systems of health and social care in England move towards more integrated and collaborative models, leaders will need different skills than their predecessors to enable system leadership, building partnerships and working across organisations and sectors. There is little understanding of what the mechanisms for effective leadership across integrated health and social care systems might be, the contexts that influence good leadership, or the nature of the resulting outcomes. This review aims to identify, refine and test programme theories of leadership of integrated team-based services in health and social care, exploring what works, for whom and in what circumstances.

The delivery of compassionate nursing care in a tick-box culture: Qualitative perspectives from a realist evaluation of intentional rounding.

Background: Compassion is integral to professional nursing practice worldwide and a fundamental value in healthcare. Following serious care failures at a healthcare provider in the United Kingdom, a government commissioned report (the Francis Report) made several recommendations for strengthening compassion in nursing care and consequently 'intentional rounding' was incorporated into nursing practice in the United Kingdom. Intentional rounding is a structured process implemented primarily in the United Kingdom, North America and Australia, whereby nurses conduct 1-2 hourly checks on every patient using a standardised protocol and documentation.

The Effect of Sanitizers on Microbial Levels of Chicken Meat Collected from Commercial Processing Plants.

Chicken meat can potentially become contaminated with bacteria at the processing plant. In Australia, there is currently a lack of knowledge on the parameters and indications of use of non-chlorine based treatments in the chicken meat processing plants. Chlorine is widely used as a sanitizer in Australian chicken meat processing plants but due to occupational health and safety concerns and consumer perception, there is a need to identify alternative sanitizers.

Realist synthesis of intentional rounding in hospital wards: exploring the evidence of what works, for whom, in what circumstances and why.

Background: Intentional rounding (IR) is a structured process whereby nurses conduct one to two hourly checks with every patient using a standardised protocol.

Objective: A realist synthesis of the evidence on IR was undertaken to develop IR programme theories of what works, for whom, in what circumstances and why.

Methods: A three-stage literature search and a stakeholder consultation event was completed.

Moringa oleifera functionalised sand - reuse with non-ionic surfactant dodecyl glucoside.

Moringa oleifera seeds are well known for their ability to cause flocculation in turbid water and facilitate bacterial inhibition. These effects are due to the cationic polypeptide MO, which affects the surface charge of suspended particles and causes lysis of bacterial cells. However, the attachment of bacteria to MO prevents further bacterial attachment, reducing the effectiveness of the seeds.

Evaluation of robenidine analog NCL195 as a novel broad-spectrum antibacterial agent.

The spread of multidrug resistance among bacterial pathogens poses a serious threat to public health worldwide. Recent approaches towards combating antimicrobial resistance include repurposing old compounds with known safety and development pathways as new antibacterial classes with novel mechanisms of action. Here we show that an analog of the anticoccidial drug robenidine (4,6-bis(2-((E)-4-methylbenzylidene)hydrazinyl)pyrimidin-2-amine; NCL195) displays potent bactericidal activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus by disrupting the cell membrane potential.

What aspects of intentional rounding work in hospital wards, for whom and in what circumstances? A realist evaluation protocol.

Introduction: Intentional rounding (IR) is a structured process whereby nurses in hospitals carry out regular checks, usually hourly, with individual patients using a standardised protocol to address issues of positioning, pain, personal needs and placement of items. The widespread implementation of IR across the UK has been driven by the recommendations of the Francis Inquiry although empirical evidence of its effectiveness is poor. This paper presents a protocol of a multimethod study using a realist evaluation approach to investigate the impact and effectiveness of IR in hospital wards on the organisation, delivery and experience of care from the perspective of patients, their family members and staff.