An Investigation of the Post-laryngectomy Swallow Using Videofluoroscopy and Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES).

This study investigates the post-laryngectomy swallow. Presence and degree of residue on the post-laryngectomy swallow as observed on videofluoroscopy and FEES is described. In addition, videofluoroscopy and FEES are assessed for reliability and inter-instrument agreement.

Hamman's syndrome in diabetic ketoacidosis.

Unlabelled: Hamman's syndrome (spontaneous subcutaneous emphysema and pneumomediastinum) is a rare complication of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), with a multifactorial etiology. Awareness of this syndrome is important: it is likely underdiagnosed as the main symptom of shortness of breath is often attributed to Kussmaul's breathing and the findings on chest radiograph can be subtle and easily missed. It is also important to be aware of and consider Boerhaave's syndrome as a differential diagnosis, a more serious condition with a 40% mortality rate when diagnosis is delayed.

Memantine-Loaded PEGylated Biodegradable Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disease associated with retinal ganglion cells (RGC) loss. Increasing reports of similarities in glaucoma and other neurodegenerative conditions have led to speculation that therapies for brain neurodegenerative disorders may also have potential as glaucoma therapies. Memantine is an N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist approved for Alzheimer's disease treatment.

A pilot evaluation of whole blood finger-prick sampling for point-of-care HIV viral load measurement: the UNICORN study.

There is a global need for HIV viral load point-of-care (PoC) assays to monitor patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. UNICORN was the first study of an off-label protocol using whole blood finger-prick samples tested with and without a simple three minute spin using a clinic-room microcentrifuge. Two PoC assays were evaluated in 40 HIV-positive participants, 20 with detectable and 20 with undetectable plasma viral load (pVL) (<20 copies/ml).

Head injury patterns in helmeted and non-helmeted cyclists admitted to a London Major Trauma Centre with serious head injury.

Background: Cycle use across London and the UK has increased considerably over the last 10 years. With this there has been an increased interest in cycle safety and injury prevention. Head injuries are an important cause of mortality and morbidity in cyclists.

IPET study: an FLT-PET window study to assess the activity of the steroid sulfatase inhibitor irosustat in early breast cancer.

Background: Steroid sulfatase (STS) is involved in oestrogen biosynthesis and irosustat is a first generation, irreversible steroid sulfatase inhibitor. A pre-surgical window-of-opportunity study with irosustat was undertaken in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer to assess the effect of irosustat on tumour cell proliferation as measured by 3'-deoxy-3'-[18F] fluorothymidine uptake measured by PET scanning (FLT-PET) and Ki67.

Methods: Postmenopausal women with untreated ER+ early breast cancer were recruited, and imaged with FLT-PET at baseline and after at least 2 weeks treatment with irosustat, 40 mg once daily orally.

The effects of centralisation of vascular surgical services in the Bath, Bristol and Weston area on the carotid endarterectomy pathway.

Introduction Patients who experience a transient ischaemic attack are at the highest risk of having a subsequent stroke immediately after their symptoms. A carotid endarterectomy should be performed on symptomatic, surgically suitable patients who present with a greater than 50% North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial stenosis of the internal carotid artery within 2 weeks of their symptoms. This study aimed to determine whether the effectiveness of the carotid endarterectomy pathway has been impacted by the centralisation of vascular surgical services in the Bath, Bristol and Weston area.

Vocal palsy increases the risk of lower respiratory tract infection in low-risk, low-morbidity patients undergoing thyroidectomy for benign disease: A big data analysis.

Objectives: Thyroidectomy is the commonest operation that places normally functioning laryngeal nerves at risk of injury. Vocal palsy is a major risk factor for dysphonia, dysphagia, and less commonly, airway obstruction. We investigated the association between post-thyroidectomy vocal palsy and long-term risks of pneumonia and laryngeal failure.

A health partnership to reduce neonatal mortality in four hospitals in Rwanda.

Background: A health partnership to improve hospital based neonatal care in Rwanda to reduce neonatal mortality was requested by the Rwandan Ministry of Health. Although many health system improvements have been made, there is a severe shortage of health professionals with neonatal training.

Methods: Following a needs assessment, a health partnership grant for 2 years was obtained.

Management of glaucoma as a neurodegenerative disease.

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease with an estimated prevalence of 60 million people, and the most common cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. The mainstay of treatment has been aimed at lowering intraocular pressure, currently the only modifiable risk factor. Unfortunately, despite adequate pressure control, many patients go on to suffer irreversible visual loss.

Wearable Sensor Technology Efficacy in Peripheral Vascular Disease (wSTEP): A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of using wearable activity monitors (WAMs) in patients with intermittent claudication (IC) within a single-center randomized controlled trial.

Background: WAMs allow users to set daily activity targets and monitor their progress. They may offer an alternative treatment to supervised exercise programs (SEPs) for patients with IC.

Obstetric medical care and training in the United Kingdom.

The UK confidential enquiry into maternal deaths identified poor management of medical problems in pregnancy to be a contributory factor to a large proportion of indirect maternal deaths. Maternal (obstetric) medicine is an exciting subspecialty that encompasses caring for both women with pre-existing medical conditions who become pregnant, as well as those who develop medical conditions in pregnancy. Obstetrics and gynaecology trainees have some exposure to maternal medicine through their core curriculum and can then complete an advanced training skills module, subspecialise in maternal-fetal medicine or take time out to complete the Royal College of Physicians membership examination.

A systematic review of the heritability of specific psychopathic traits using Hare's two-factor model of psychopathy.

Background: There have been no systematic reviews that investigated the heritability of the two-factor model of psychopathy: interpersonal-affective and behavioral. Our review aimed, first, to examine the heritability of general psychopathic traits and, second, if genetic influences were suggested, to determine the heritability of various traits related to the interpersonal-affective and behavioral factors of psychopathy.

Method: A systematic literature search was conducted using articles from the PsycINFO, Embase, Global Health, Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases (January of 1980 to December of 2015) in order to identify eligible literature that reported on the heritability of psychopathy-related traits.

Complete laparoscopic excision of a giant retroperitoneal paraganglioma.

Paragangliomas (or 'extra-adrenal phaeochromocytomas') are rare tumours arising from neural crest cells. They occur most commonly in the abdomen along the paraspinal sympathetic ganglion. The malignancy rate can be up to 35% and surgical resection is the recommended treatment.

Nasosorption as a Minimally Invasive Sampling Procedure: Mucosal Viral Load and Inflammation in Primary RSV Bronchiolitis.

Background: Existing respiratory mucosal sampling methods are flawed, particularly in a pediatric bronchiolitis setting.

Methods: Twenty-four infants with bronchiolitis were recruited: 12 were respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-positive, 12 were RSV-negative. Infants were sampled by nasosorption and nasopharyngeal aspiration (NPA).

Pocket-sized point-of-care cardiac ultrasound devices : Role in the emergency department.

Background: Acute breathlessness accounts for 8% of accident and emergency attendances. Point-of-care cardiac ultrasound (US) effectively reduces time to diagnosis. Fast and practical information via pocket-sized cardiac US devices may better the diagnosis in this complex patient group.

Molecular techniques for the personalised management of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is the paradigm for targeted cancer therapy. RT-qPCR is the gold standard for monitoring response to tyrosine kinase-inhibitor (TKI) therapy based on the reduction of blood or bone marrow . Some patients with CML and very low or undetectable levels of transcripts can stop TKI-therapy without CML recurrence.

Impact of the method and success of pharyngeal reconstruction on the outcome of treating laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers with pharyngolaryngectomy: A national analysis.

Background: Surgical treatment of cancers that arise from or invade the hypopharynx presents major reconstructive challenges. Reconstructive failure exposes the airway and neck vessels to digestive contents.

Methods: We performed a national N = near-all analysis of the administrative dataset to identify pharyngolaryngectomies in England between 2002 and 2012.

Medium-term patient-reported outcomes after total hip replacement for displaced hip fractures.

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to define the medium-term outcomes following total hip replacement (THR) for hip fracture.

Methods: We prospectively followed up 92 patients who underwent THR for a displaced hip fracture over a 3-year period between 2007 and 2010. These patients were followed up at 5 years using the Oxford Hip Score, Short-Form 12 (SF-12) questionnaire and satisfaction questionnaire.

Extended stability of antimicrobial agents in administration devices.

Background: Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) is an established approach to patient care. A lack of data on antimicrobial stability within administration devices is a barrier to service expansion, and poses an antimicrobial stewardship dilemma. Often broad-spectrum, long half-life agents are used instead of narrow-spectrum agents, which need more frequent administration, but could possibly be used if stability data were available.

Computational fluid dynamics benchmark dataset of airflow in tracheas.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is fast becoming a useful tool to aid clinicians in pre-surgical planning through the ability to provide information that could otherwise be extremely difficult if not impossible to obtain. However, in order to provide clinically relevant metrics, the accuracy of the computational method must be sufficiently high. There are many alternative methods employed in the process of performing CFD simulations within the airways, including different segmentation and meshing strategies, as well as alternative approaches to solving the Navier-Stokes equations.

Non-amyloidogenic effects of α2 adrenergic agonists: implications for brimonidine-mediated neuroprotection.

The amyloid beta (Aβ) pathway is strongly implicated in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and more recently, glaucoma. Here, we identify the α2 adrenergic receptor agonists (α2ARA) used to lower intraocular pressure can prevent retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death via the non-amyloidogenic Aβ-pathway. Neuroprotective effects were confirmed in vivo and in vitro in different glaucoma-related models using α2ARAs brimonidine (BMD), clonidine (Clo) and dexmedetomidine.