A Survey of Obstetric Anaesthesia Services and Practices in the United Kingdom.

Background Variability in obstetric anaesthetia practice and care delivered within the UK is under-explored. The ObsQoR study explored structures, processes, and outcomes of obstetric anaesthesia in 107 hospitals within the UK's National Health Service, and the results of the hospital-level survey are reported here. Methods Hospitals were surveyed to assess obstetric anaesthesia provision, practice, and care delivery.

Awake Tracheal Intubation: An Update.

Awake tracheal intubation (ATI) remains the "gold standard" technique in securing a definitive airway in conscious, self-ventilating patients with predicted or known difficult airways and the procedure is associated with a low failure rate. Since its inception a variety of techniques to achieve ATI have emerged and there have been accompanying advancements in pharmaceuticals and technology to support the procedure. In recent years there has been a growing focus on the planning, training and human factors involved in performing the procedure.

Quality of recovery following childbirth: a prospective, multicentre cohort study.

To better understand outcomes in postpartum patients who receive peripartum anaesthetic interventions, we aimed to assess quality of recovery metrics following childbirth in a UK-based multicentre cohort study. This study was performed during a 2-week period in October 2021 to assess in- and outpatient post-delivery recovery at 1 and 30 days postpartum. The following outcomes were reported: obstetric quality of recovery 10-item measure (ObsQoR-10); EuroQoL (EQ-5D-5L) survey; global health visual analogue scale; postpartum pain scores at rest and movement; length of hospital stay; readmission rates; and self-reported complications.

Protocol for the Psychosis Immune Mechanism Stratified Medicine (PIMS) trial: a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of single-dose tocilizumab in patients with psychosis.

Introduction: Evidence suggests a potentially causal role of interleukin 6 (IL-6), a pleiotropic cytokine that generally promotes inflammation, in the pathogenesis of psychosis. However, no interventional studies in patients with psychosis, stratified using inflammatory markers, have been conducted to assess the therapeutic potential of targeting IL-6 in psychosis and to elucidate potential mechanism of effect. Tocilizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody targeting the IL-6 receptor to inhibit IL-6 signalling, licensed in the UK for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Sexually mediated phenotypic variation within and between sexes as a continuum structured by ecology: The mosaic nature of skeletal variation across body regions in Threespine stickleback ( L.).

Ecological character displacement between the sexes, and sexual selection, integrate into a convergent set of factors that produce sexual variation. Ecologically modulated, sexually mediated variation within and between sexes may be a major contributor to the amount of total variation that selection can act on in species. Threespine stickleback () display rapid adaptive responses and sexual variation in many phenotypic traits.

Obstetric services in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national survey.

Background: The management of obstetric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to human-to-human transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) requires unique considerations. Many aspects of labour and delivery practice required adaptation in response to the global pandemic and were supported by guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists. The adoption and adherence to these guidelines is unknown.

Effect of pre-operative oral paracetamol on gastric residual volume and pH in young children in the context of a 1-hour clear fluid fast: a randomised controlled trial.

High gastric residual volume and low pH are associated with increased mortality following pulmonary aspiration in animal studies. The use of pre-operative oral paracetamol has not been investigated in younger children and infants in the context of a prescriptive 1-h clear fluid fast aimed at reducing the risk of pulmonary aspiration while improving patient experience. Children aged 1 month up to a weight of 25 kg and scheduled for elective surgery were randomly allocated to receive a prescribed 3.

Development on Citrus medica infected with 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' has sex-specific and -nonspecific impacts on adult Diaphorina citri and its endosymbionts.

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a deadly, incurable citrus disease putatively caused by the unculturable bacterium, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' (CLas), and transmitted by Diaphorina citri. Prior studies suggest D. citri transmits CLas in a circulative and propagative manner; however, the precise interactions necessary for CLas transmission remain unknown, and the impact of insect sex on D.

Combining 'omics and microscopy to visualize interactions between the Asian citrus psyllid vector and the Huanglongbing pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in the insect gut.

Huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease, is an economically devastating bacterial disease of citrus. It is associated with infection by the gram-negative bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). CLas is transmitted by Diaphorina citri, the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP).

Systemic manifestations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a complex multisystem disease with comorbidities and systemic manifestations that affect respiratory symptoms, exacerbation frequency and mortality. This article gives an overview of these systemic manifestations and their importance, and offers strategies for managing them.

Effect of phytochemicals on phase II enzyme expression in infant human primary skin fibroblast cells.

Phase II metabolising enzymes enable the metabolism and excretion of potentially harmful substances in adults, but to date it is unclear whether dietary phytochemicals can induce phase II enzymes differently between adults and infants. We investigated the expression of phase II enzymes in an in vitro model of primary skin fibroblasts at three different developmental stages, 1 month, 2 years and adult, to examine potential differences in age-related phase II enzymes in response to different phytochemicals (5-20 μm) including sulphoraphane, quercetin and catechin. Following phytochemical treatment, a significant increase in mRNA of glutathione S-transferase A1 (GSTA1) and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) was observed, with the most marked increases seen in response to sulphoraphane (3-10-fold for GSTA1, P = 0·001, and 6-35-fold for NQO1, P = 0·001-0·017).

Inter-rater reliability of arm circumference measurement.

Background: Arm lymphedema is routinely assessed by clinicians and researchers, using arm circumference measurements. A protocol was developed for measuring arm circumference independent of medically trained professionals. The aim of this project was to assess the protocol's inter-rater reliability and its coherence with perometry measures.

Building health: an epidemiological study of "sick building syndrome" in the Whitehall II study.

Objectives: Sick building syndrome (SBS) is described as a group of symptoms attributed to the physical environment of specific buildings. Isolating particular environmental features responsible for the symptoms has proved difficult. This study explores the role and significance of the physical and psychosocial work environment in explaining SBS.

Effects of feeding level on growth, composition of gain, carcass quality and mature body size in steers at ages up to six years.

Tissue gain and efficiency and carcass characteristics of seventy-eight Angus steers were compared on three feed intake regimens and serially slaughtered at 6 months to 6 years. The regimens were: (A) continuous ad ad libitum feeding, (B) restricted to gain about 0.45 kg daily and (C) restricted as in B until 6 months before slaughter then fed ad libitum.

Effects of organic phosphate systemic insecticides on bovine embryonic survival and development.

Experiments were conducted to determine effects of 2 organic phosphate systemic insecticides on embryonic survival and possible teratogenesis in cattle. A total of 726 heifers at 3 locations were treated with either crufomate (4-tert-butyl-2-chlorophenyl methyl methylphos-phoramidate) or coumaphos (O,O-diethyl O-(3-chloro-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-1-benzopyran-7-yl) phosphorothioate). The compounds were administered to pregnant bovine females at various stages of gestation by pouring along the dorsal midline.

Lipid metabolism of rumen ciliates and bacteria. I. Uptake of fatty acids by Isotricha prostoma and Entodinium simplex.

Washed suspensions of the ruminal ciliates, Isotricha prostoma and Entodinium simplex, concentrated C(14)-labeled oleic, palmitic, stearic, and linoleic acids within the cells during short incubation periods. Radioautographs demonstrated that oleic acid-1-C(14) was hydrogenated to stearic acid by I. prostoma, and Warburg manometric data showed that the sodium salts of oleic, valeric, caproic, and acetic acids, and methyl myristate, methyl laurate, and the triglyceride tributyrin stimulated fermentation of I.