Access to Chronic Pain Services for Adults from Minority Ethnic Groups in the United Kingdom (UK): a Scoping Review.

Background: Chronic pain services in the UK are required to provide services which meet the diverse needs of patients, but little is known about the access and use of these services by minority ethnic groups.

Objective: To assess the available evidence regarding the ethnic profile of adults who access secondary and tertiary chronic pain services in the UK.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted (August 2021-October 2021), comprising comprehensive literature searches using Embase, Medline and CINAHL databases and the grey literature.

Incidence of giant cell arteritis is associated with COVID-19 prevalence: A population-level retrospective study.

Background: Following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was observed that giant cell arteritis (GCA) diagnoses increased at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) in Bath, UK. This finding may support the viral aetiology hypothesis of GCA. Better understanding of the causes of GCA may help improve diagnostic and treatment strategies leading to better outcomes for patients.

Immune cell status, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition among breast cancer survivors and healthy women: a cross sectional study.

We examined whether immune cell profiles differ between healthy women ( = 38) and breast cancer survivors ( = 27) within 2 years of treatment, and whether any group-differences were influenced by age, cytomegalovirus infection, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition. Using flow cytometry, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets, including naïve (NA), central memory (CM) and effector cells (EM and EMRA) were identified using CD27/CD45RA. Activation was measured by HLA-DR expression.

The effects of exercise training for eight weeks on immune cell characteristics among breast cancer survivors.

Methods: This study examined the effects of exercise training for 8 weeks on blood immune cell characteristics among 20 breast cancer survivors (age 56 ± 6 years, Body Mass Index 25.4 ± 3.0 kg m) within two years of treatment.

A Phase II randomized controlled trial of oral prednisolone in early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (PRedSS).

Objectives: Although the painful and disabling features of early diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) have an inflammatory basis and could respond to corticosteroids, corticosteroids are a risk factor for scleroderma renal crisis. Whether or not they should be prescribed is therefore highly contentious. Our aim was to examine safety and efficacy of moderate-dose prednisolone in early dcSSc.

Videolaryngoscopy versus direct laryngoscopy for adults undergoing tracheal intubation.

Background: Tracheal intubation is a common procedure performed to secure the airway in adults undergoing surgery or those who are critically ill. Intubation is sometimes associated with difficulties and complications that may result in patient harm. While it is traditionally achieved by performing direct laryngoscopy, the past three decades have seen the advent of rigid indirect videolaryngoscopes (VLs).

Easy-BILAG: a new tool for simplified recording of SLE disease activity using BILAG-2004 index.

Objective: BILAG-2004 index is a comprehensive disease activity instrument for SLE but administrative burden and potential frequency of errors limits its use in routine practice. We aimed to develop a tool for more accurate, time-efficient scoring of BILAG-2004 index with full fidelity to the existing instrument.

Methods: Frequency of BILAG-2004 items was collated from a BILAG-biologics registry (BILAG-BR) dataset.

Comparing the patient experience between a novel 360° gamma camera (VERITON-CT) and a conventional dual head gamma camera.

To explore whether the novel 360° gamma camera design of VERITON-CT adversely affects the rate of scan non-completion due to claustrophobia or other patient experience factors, when compared to a standard dual-headed gamma camera. Single centre prospective study of all nuclear medicine studies on either of two gamma cameras; the VERITON-CT (Spectrum Dynamics Medical) and Discovery NM/CT 670 (GE Healthcare). It was recorded whether the patient had completed the scan as protocoled or, due to claustrophobia, had a shortened scan or no scan.

Rates of Bile Acid Diarrhoea After Cholecystectomy: A Multicentre Audit.

Introduction: Bile acid diarrhoea (BAD) can occur due to disruption to the enterohepatic circulation, e.g. following cholecystectomy.

The structural and functional connectivity neural underpinnings of body image.

How we perceive our bodies is fundamental to our self-consciousness and our experience in the world. There are two types of interrelated internal body representations-a subjective experience of the position of a limb in space (body schema) and the subjective experience of the shape and size of the limb (body image). Body schema has been extensively studied, but there is no evidence of the brain structure and network dynamics underpinning body image.

Visual illusions modulate body perception disturbance and pain in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A randomized trial.

Background: Effective treatment of longstanding Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a challenge, as causal mechanisms remain elusive. People with CRPS frequently report distorted subjective perceptions of their affected limb. Evidence of pain reduction when the affected limb is visually altered in size suggests that visual illusions used to target central processing could restore coherence of this disrupted limb representation.

Consultant-led triage of paediatric hospital referrals: a service evaluation.

Objective: We established a paediatric demand management (PDM) service in our paediatric department in 2017. The aim of this consultant-delivered service is to manage referrals more efficiently by providing active triage of all referrals, daily rapid access clinics and easily accessible advice for primary healthcare professionals. This study presents an evaluation of this service.

The Association Between Frailty and Parkinson's Disease in the ReSPOnD Trial.

Background: Frailty and Parkinson's disease (PD) are both highly prevalent in older people, but few studies have studied frailty in people with Parkinson's. Identifying frailty in this population is vital, to target new interventions to those who would most benefit.

Methods: Data were collected as part of the double-blind randomised controlled rivastigmine to stabilise gait ReSPonD trial in 130 people with Hoehn and Yahr 2-3, idiopathic PD who had fallen in the year prior to enrolment.

A Phenomic Perspective on Factors Influencing Breast Cancer Treatment: Integrating Aging and Lifestyle in Blood and Tissue Biomarker Profiling.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women worldwide. Over the last four decades, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures have improved substantially, giving patients with localized disease a better chance of cure, and those with more advanced cancer, longer periods of disease control and survival. However, understanding and managing heterogeneity in the clinical response exhibited by patients remains a challenge.

Evaluation of a patient self-stratification methodology to identify those in need of shielding during COVID-19.

The logistical challenges of rapidly and accurately identifying those patients who needed to shield during the COVID-19 pandemic were unprecedented. We report our experiences of meeting this challenge for >9,000 patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease at our centre, incorporating an element of guided patient self-stratification. Our results indicate that patients are able to stratify their own risk accurately using the BSR COVID-19 risk stratification guidance.

May Measurement Month 2018: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Raised blood pressure (BP) was the biggest contributor to the global burden of disease in 2017, with lack of awareness and adequate control of BP identified as the main drivers of this disease burden. In 2017, an opportunistic BP screening and awareness campaign called May Measurement Month (MMM) in the UK and Republic of Ireland (RoI) highlighted that levels of undiagnosed hypertension and uncontrolled hypertension in the community screened were approximately 23% and 40%, respectively. MMM18 was undertaken to further the campaign's efforts to increase awareness and create an evidence base of population risk associated with high BP.

The impact of resuscitation system factors on in-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes across UK hospitals: An observational study.

Purpose Of The Study: To explore whether variation in in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) survival can be explained by differences in resuscitation service provision across UK acute hospitals.

Methods: We linked information on key clinical practices with patient data of adults who had a cardiac arrest on a general hospital ward or emergency admissions unit in 2016/17. We used multi-level Bayesian models to explore associations between system quality indicators (number of resuscitation officers, audits time to first shock, review unexpected non-survivors, arrest team meets at handover, hot debrief, cold debrief, real-time audio-visual feedback, frequency of mock arrest provision) and adjusted hospital survival.

Frailty in Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) and frailty are two conditions that are increasingly common with advancing age, yet little is known about their relationship.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the co-occurrence of frailty in people with PD; to describe the measures used to assess frailty in PD, and assess the prevalence of frailty in subjects with PD.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of Pubmed and Embase in April 2018.

Body Perception Disturbance and Pain Reduction in Longstanding Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Following a Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Program.

Objective: Clinical guidelines for the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome recommend multidisciplinary rehabilitation, yet limited evidence exists to support the effectiveness of this approach. Body perception disturbance, a common and debilitating feature of complex regional pain syndrome, is recommended by guidelines as important to treat. However, no study has yet explored whether disturbances change in response to multidisciplinary rehabilitation.