Fiscal stimulus packages to COVID-19: The role of informality.

In this paper, we use a novel cross-country dataset to investigate the relationship between the prevalence of the shadow economy and fiscal policy responses to the economic crisis induced by the pandemic. The finding is that countries with a relatively larger shadow economy before the pandemic have adopted a smaller fiscal policy package. The results are robust to different econometric specifications, including an instrumental variable estimation.

Gastric cancer in the pediatric population, a multicenter cross-sectional analysis of presentation and coexisting comorbidities.

Objectives: Solid tumors of the stomach in children are rare, adenocarcinoma being most frequently reported. Risk factors and clinical presentation are poorly understood. We undertook a nationwide database analysis to evaluate pediatric CA stomach presentation, comorbidities, and metastatic pattern.

Quality of life of children during distraction osteogenesis: a comparison between intramedullary magnetic lengthening nails and external fixators.

Background: Distraction osteogenesis is a very demanding process. For decades, external fixation was the only reliable option for gradual deformity correction. Recently, intramedullary magnetic nails have gained popularity.

The challenges of integrating signposting into general practice: qualitative stakeholder perspectives on care navigation and social prescribing in primary care.

Background: A national policy focus in England to address general practice workforce issues has led to a commitment to employ significant numbers of non-general practitioner (GP) roles to redistribute workload. This paper focuses on two such roles: the care navigation (CN) and social prescribing link worker (SPLW) roles, which both aim to introduce 'active signposting' into primary care, to direct patients to the right professional/services at the right time and free up GP time. There is a lack of research exploring staff views of how these roles are being planned and operationalised into general practice and how signposting is being integrated into primary care.

Influence at work is a key factor for mental health - but what do contemporary employees in knowledge and relational work mean by "influence at work"?

Purpose: Common mental health problems are a substantial burden in many western countries. Studies have pointed out that work related factors can both increase and decrease the risk of developing mental health problems. Influence at work is a key factor relating the psychosocial work environment to employees mental health.

Physio-biochemical responses and expressional profiling analysis of drought tolerant genes in new promising rice genotype.

Rice cultivation in Egypt is limited by the scarcity of water resources. The main strategy of rice breeders to overcome this problem is to develop new high-yielding varieties that are tolerant to drought stress. In this study, an drought-tolerant (IR60080-46A) variety was crossed with commercial Egyptian varieties using the back-cross method and marker-assisted selection (MAS) approach.

Does it work? Using a Meta-Impact score to examine global effects in quasi-experimental intervention studies.

The evaluation of applied psychological interventions in the workplace or elsewhere is challenging. Randomisation and matching are difficult to achieve and this often results in substantial heterogeneity within intervention and control groups. As a result, traditional comparison of group means using null hypothesis significance testing may mask effects experienced by some participants.

The importance of training transfer of non-technical skills safety training of construction workers.

Safety training of migrant workers in construction has focused on technical skills with limited attention to non-technical skills, which support safety training transfer to the worksite, both immediately after training and in the long term. Using realist evaluation as our theoretical framework, this study explores the transfer of two key non-technical skills to construction sites: communication and decision-making. Trained workers completed questionnaires post-training and after six months.

SHIFTing artificial intelligence to be responsible in healthcare: A systematic review.

A variety of ethical concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) implementation in healthcare have emerged as AI becomes increasingly applicable and technologically advanced. The last decade has witnessed significant endeavors in striking a balance between ethical considerations and health transformation led by AI. Despite a growing interest in AI ethics, implementing AI-related technologies and initiatives responsibly in healthcare settings remains a challenge.

The relationship between leader support, staff influence over decision making, work pressure and patient satisfaction: a cross-sectional analysis of NHS datasets in England.

Objective: To explore the relationships between leader support, staff influence over decisions, work pressure and patient satisfaction.

Design: A cross-sectional study of large National Health Service (NHS) datasets in England in 2010.

Setting And Participants: 158 NHS acute hospital trusts in England (n=63 156) from all staff groups.

The Penrose hypothesis in the second half of the 20th century: investigating the relationship between psychiatric bed numbers and the prison population in England between 1960 and 2018-2019.

Background: NHS Psychiatric beds comprise mental illness and intellectual disability beds. Penrose hypothesised that the number of psychiatric in-patients was inversely related to prison population size.

Aims: To ascertain whether the Penrose hypothesis held true in England between 1960 and 2018-2019.

Eliciting positive emotion through strategic responses to COVID-19 crisis: Evidence from the tourism sector.

While social media are effective means of communicating with adverse customer emotions during a crisis, it remains unclear how tourism organisations can respond to pandemic crisis on social media to prevent negative aftermaths. Using a set-theoretical approach, we investigate how COVID-19 response strategies and linguistic cues of responses are intertwined to evoke positive emotions among consumers. This study entails a qualitative content analysis of tourism organisations' COVID-19 announcements and a social media analytics approach that captures consumers' emotional reactions to these announcements via their Twitter replies.

Recurrent appendicitis following successful drainage of appendicular abscess in adult without interval appendectomy during COVID-19. Prospective cohort study.

Background: COVID-19 infection is a global pandemic that affected routine health services and made patients fear to consult for medical health problems, even acute abdominal pain. Subsequently, the incidence of complicated appendicitis increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aimed to evaluate recurrent appendicitis after successful drainage of appendicular abscess during COVID-19.

Femoral Lengthening in Children-A Comparison Between Magnetic Intramedullary Lengthening Nails and External Fixators.

Background: Femoral lengthening can be achieved using external fixators or intramedullary lengthening nails. The purpose of this research was to compare the outcome of femoral lengthening in children using PRECICE magnetic lengthening nails with lengthening external fixators.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 50 children who had femoral lengthening.

Femoral lengthening in young patients: An evidence-based comparison between motorized lengthening nails and external fixation.

Background: Femoral lengthening is a procedure of great importance in the treatment of congenital and acquired limb deficiencies. Technological advances have led to the latest designs of fully implantable motorized intramedullary lengthening nails. The use of these nails has increased over the last few years.

COVID-19 information overload and generation Z's social media discontinuance intention during the pandemic lockdown.

While previous research highlights the benefits of social media in times of a pandemic, this research focuses on the potential dark side of social media use among Generation Z (Gen Z) in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown between March and May 2020. The study reveals that COVID-19 information overload through social media had a negative impact on Gen Z social media users' psychological well-being. Moreover, perceived information overload heightened both social media fatigue and fear of COVID-19, which, in turn, increased users' social media discontinuance intention.

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, mode of analgesia and risk of Caesarean delivery after onset of labour: a Mendelian randomisation analysis.

Background: Lower circulating levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) are associated with intrapartum inflammation and epidural analgesia-related maternal fever, both of which increase the rate of obstetric interventions. We hypothesised that genetic variants determining IL-1ra levels would be associated with Caesarean delivery rates after the onset of labour.

Methods: We performed Mendelian randomisation analyses in parous women ≥16 yr old who received either non-neuraxial or neuraxial analgesia for their first two labours (UK Biobank).

The development of a restorative Managed Clinical Network within the defence primary healthcare organisation.

The United Kingdom Armed Forces introduced a Managed Clinical Network to transform care provision for military patients referred with complex restorative treatment needs. This article discusses the processes that underpinned this transformation of service, from assessment of populations needs to implementation of clinical delivery.

B6 Mouse Strain: The Best Fit for LPS-Induced Interstitial Cystitis Model.

Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by bladder pain and increased urinary frequency. Although the C57BL/6J (B6) and FVB/NJ (FVB) mouse strains are commonly used as animal models for studies involving the urinary system, few reports have compared their lower urinary tract anatomy, despite the importance of such data. Our study aimed to characterize bladder function changes in FVB and B6 mouse strains with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IC, to understand mouse model-based bladder research.

What are the functional consequences after TBI? The SHEFBIT cohort experience.

Objectives: To investigate functional outcome after TBI and identify variables that predict outcome in a multiordinal regression model.

Background: The results of global outcome studies after Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI) differ widely due to differences in outcome measure, attrition to follow-up and selection bias. Outcome information would inform patients/families, guide service development and target high-risk individuals.

The ESSO core curriculum committee update on surgical oncology.

Introduction: Surgical oncology is a defined specialty within the European Board of Surgery within the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). Variation in training and specialization still occurs across Europe. There is a need to align the core knowledge needed to fulfil the criteria across subspecialities in surgical oncology.

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on pancreatic cancer services and treatment pathways: United Kingdom experience.

Introduction: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic presented healthcare providers with an extreme challenge to provide cancer services. The impact upon the diagnostic and treatment capacity to treat pancreatic cancer is unclear. This study aimed to identify national variation in treatment pathways during the pandemic.