Impacts of ambient air quality on acute asthma hospital admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oxford City, UK: a time-series study.

Objectives: The study aims to investigate the short-term associations between exposure to ambient air pollution (nitrogen dioxide (NO), particulate matter pollution-particles with diameter<2.5 µm (PM) and PM) and incidence of asthma hospital admissions among adults, in Oxford, UK.

Design: Retrospective time-series study.

The impact of COVID-19 public health restrictions on particulate matter pollution measured by a validated low-cost sensor network in Oxford, UK.

Emergency responses to the COVID-19 pandemic led to major changes in travel behaviours and economic activities with arising impacts upon urban air quality. To date, these air quality changes associated with lockdown measures have typically been assessed using limited city-level regulatory monitoring data, however, low-cost air quality sensors provide capabilities to assess changes across multiple locations at higher spatial-temporal resolution, thereby generating insights relevant for future air quality interventions. The aim of this study was to utilise high-spatial resolution air quality information utilising data arising from a validated (using a random forest field calibration) network of 15 low-cost air quality sensors within Oxford, UK to monitor the impacts of multiple COVID-19 public heath restrictions upon particulate matter concentrations (PM, PM) from January 2020 to September 2021.

What factors influence the introduction of a national undergraduate general practice curriculum in the UK?

A national undergraduate curriculum for General Practice might address current concerns regarding intellectual challenge and recruitment through articulating disciplinary knowledge and providing teaching guidance. However, there is ambivalence regarding this idea and the reasons appear incompletely understood. : To better understand ambivalence towards a GP curriculum and to assess the acceptability of a new approach to national curriculum design.

Pharmacological inhibition of porcupine induces regression of experimental skin fibrosis by targeting Wnt signalling.

Objectives: Wnt signalling has been implicated in activating a fibrogenic programme in fibroblasts in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Porcupine is an O-acyltransferase required for secretion of Wnt proteins in mammals. Here, we aimed to evaluate the antifibrotic effects of pharmacological inhibition of porcupine in preclinical models of SSc.

Low Friction Droplet Transportation on a Substrate with a Selective Leidenfrost Effect.

An energy saving Leidenfrost levitation method is introduced to transport microdroplets with virtually frictionless contact between the liquid and solid substrate. Through microengineering of the heating units, selective areas of the whole substrate can be electrothermally activated. A droplet can be levitated as a result of the Leidenfrost effect and further transported when the substrate is tilted slightly.

Evaporation of Sessile Droplets on Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS).

Over the past decade, the most common approach to creating liquid shedding surfaces has been to amplify the effects of nonwetting surface chemistry, using micro/nanotexturing to create superhydrophobic and superoleophobic surfaces. Recently, an alternative approach using impregnation of micro/nanotextured surfaces with immiscible lubricating liquids to create slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) has been developed. These types of surfaces open up new opportunities to study the mechanism of evaporation of sessile droplets in zero contact angle hysteresis situations where the contact line is completely mobile.

Identifying Glucokinase Monogenic Diabetes in a Multiethnic Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Cohort: New Pregnancy Screening Criteria and Utility of HbA1c.

Objective: Glucokinase monogenic diabetes (GCK-maturity-onset diabetes of the young [MODY]) should be differentiated from gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) because management differs. New pregnancy-specific screening criteria (NSC) have been proposed to identify women who warrant GCK genetic testing. We tested NSC and HbA1c in a multiethnic GDM cohort and examined projected referrals for GCK testing.

The EPAS1 gene influences the aerobic-anaerobic contribution in elite endurance athletes.

EPAS1 is a gene involved in complex oxygen sensing. It is expressed in microvascular endothelial cells, lung epithelial cells, cardiac myocytes and the brain. An association study was undertaken comparing elite endurance athletes classified into two groups according to a power-time model of performance intensity: power-time-maximum (PT-MAX; N=242, event duration 50 s to 10 min) and power-time-steady state (PT-SS; N=151, event duration ~2-10 h), with normal controls (N=444) using 12 SNPs across EPAS1.