How does local government use the planning system to regulate hot food takeaway outlets? A census of current practice in England using document review.

Takeaway food outlets typically sell hot food, ordered and paid for at the till, for consumption off the premises due to limited seating provision. Growing numbers of these outlets has raised concerns about their impact on diet and weight gain. This has led to proposals to regulate their proliferation through urban planning.

Exposing the impact of intensive advice services on health: A realist evaluation.

Attention has turned to welfare advice as a potential health and social care intervention. However, establishing direct evidence of health impact has proven difficult. This is compounded by the need to understand both the facilitative contexts and mechanisms through which this impact occurs.

Non-Pharmacological Interventions to Reduce Unhealthy Eating and Risky Drinking in Young Adults Aged 18⁻25 Years: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Alcohol use peaks in early adulthood and can contribute both directly and indirectly to unhealthy weight gain. This review aimed to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of preventative targeted interventions focused on reducing unhealthy eating behavior and linked alcohol use in 18⁻25-year-olds. Twelve electronic databases were searched from inception to June 2018 for trials or experimental studies, of any duration or follow-up.

Examining Associations between Body Mass Index in 18⁻25 Year-Olds and Energy Intake from Alcohol: Findings from the Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey.

Evidence on the relationship between alcohol consumption and body mass index (BMI) is mixed, particularly for young adults. This study explored the relationship between energy obtained from alcoholic beverages and BMI using data for 18⁻25 year-olds ( = 7691) from pooled cross-sections of the 2008⁻2014 Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey. Energy obtained from alcoholic beverages (excluding mixers) on the heaviest drinking day in the past week was expressed as percentage of total recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of energy (% RDA Energy).

Structural approaches to knowledge exchange: comparing practices across five centres of excellence in public health.

Background: In 2008, five UKCRC Public Health Research Centres of Excellence were created to develop a coordinated approach to policy and practice engagement and knowledge exchange. The five Centres have developed their own models and practices for achieving these aims, which have not been compared in detail to date.

Methods: We applied an extended version of Saner's model for the interface between science and policy to compare five case studies of knowledge exchanges, one from each centre.

Securing systems leadership by local government through health and wellbeing strategies.

Background: The aim of this study was to strengthen Health and Wellbeing Strategies (HWSs) by identifying potential areas for system leadership across local authorities in relation to specific aspects of health/illness, wider determinants of health and transformational change management.

Method: The work involved a document analysis of strengths of the first 12 HWSs produced in the North East of England applying principles of appreciative inquiry (AI), followed by a knowledge-to-action group approach with stakeholders. A summative event resulted in Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) members identifying potential areas for collaboration.

An analysis of signal processing algorithm performance for cortical intrinsic optical signal imaging and strategies for algorithm selection.

Intrinsic Optical Signal (IOS) imaging has been used extensively to examine activity-related changes within the cerebral cortex. A significant technical challenge with IOS imaging is the presence of large noise, artefact components and periodic interference. Signal processing is therefore important in obtaining quality IOS imaging results.

Temporally specific miRNA expression patterns in the dorsal and ventral striatum of addiction-prone rats.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) within the ventral and dorsal striatum have been shown to regulate addiction-relevant behaviours. However, it is unclear how cocaine experience alone can alter the expression of addiction-relevant miRNAs within striatal subregions. Further, it is not known whether differential expression of miRNAs in the striatum contributes to individual differences in addiction vulnerability.

Predictors of Physical Activity After Gastric Bypass-a Prospective Study.

Background: Most patients do not meet the recommended level of physical activity after bariatric surgery, and psychological factors underlying postoperative physical activity remain poorly understood. This study aimed at identifying self-regulatory predictors of physical activity after bariatric surgery.

Methods: Questionnaire data including self-regulation variables and the short-version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire were obtained in a prospective cohort of 230 patients 1 year after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Inhibition of Antigen-Specific and Nonspecific Stimulation of Bovine T and B Cells by Lymphostatin from Attaching and Effacing Escherichia coli.

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) are enteric bacterial pathogens of worldwide importance. Most EPEC and non-O157 EHEC strains express lymphostatin (also known as LifA), a chromosomally encoded 365-kDa protein.

Targeted Elimination of G Proteins and Arrestins Defines Their Specific Contributions to Both Intensity and Duration of G Protein-coupled Receptor Signaling.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can initiate intracellular signaling cascades by coupling to an array of heterotrimeric G proteins and arrestin adaptor proteins. Understanding the contribution of each of these coupling options to GPCR signaling has been hampered by a paucity of tools to selectively perturb receptor function. Here we employ CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to eliminate selected G proteins (Gα and Gα) or arrestin2 and arrestin3 from HEK293 cells together with the elimination of receptor phosphorylation sites to define the relative contribution of G proteins, arrestins, and receptor phosphorylation to the signaling outcomes of the free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFA4).

Searching and synthesising 'grey literature' and 'grey information' in public health: critical reflections on three case studies.

Background: Grey literature includes a range of documents not controlled by commercial publishing organisations. This means that grey literature can be difficult to search and retrieve for evidence synthesis. Much knowledge and evidence in public health, and other fields, accumulates from innovation in practice.

Comparison of sodium content of meals served by independent takeaways using standard versus reduced holed salt shakers: cross-sectional study.

Background: Takeaway food has a relatively poor nutritional profile. Providing takeaway outlets with reduced-holed salt shakers is one method thought to reduce salt use in takeaways, but effects have not been formally tested. We aimed to determine if there was a difference in sodium content of standard fish and chip meals served by Fish & Chip Shops that use standard (17 holes) versus reduced-holed (5 holes) salt shakers, taking advantage of natural variations in salt shakers used.

A Novel Allosteric Activator of Free Fatty Acid 2 Receptor Displays Unique Gi-functional Bias.

The short chain fatty acid receptor FFA2 is able to stimulate signaling via both Gi- and Gq/G11-promoted pathways. These pathways are believed to control distinct physiological end points but FFA2 receptor ligands appropriate to test this hypothesis have been lacking. Herein, we characterize AZ1729, a novel FFA2 regulator that acts as a direct allosteric agonist and as a positive allosteric modulator, increasing the activity of the endogenously produced short chain fatty acid propionate in Gi-mediated pathways, but not at those transduced by Gq/G11 Using AZ1729 in combination with direct inhibitors of Gi and Gq/G11 family G proteins demonstrated that although both arms contribute to propionate-mediated regulation of phospho-ERK1/2 MAP kinase signaling in FFA2-expressing 293 cells, the Gq/G11-mediated pathway is predominant.

Rapamycin reduces motivated responding for cocaine and alters GluA1 expression in the ventral but not dorsal striatum.

The mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) regulates synaptic protein synthesis and therefore synaptic function and plasticity. A role for mTORC1 has recently been demonstrated for addiction-related behaviors. For example, central or intra-accumbal injections of the mTORC1 inhibitor rapamycin attenuates several indices of cocaine-seeking including progressive ratio (PR) responding and reinstatement.

Reducing inequalities in care for patients with non-malignant diseases: Insights from a realist evaluation of an integrated palliative care pathway.

Background: The need for palliative care is growing internationally with an increasing prevalence of non-malignant diseases. The integrated care pathway was implemented in primary care by multidisciplinary teams from 2009 in a locality in the North East of England. Fourteen general practitioner practices provided data for the study.

Exposing the impact of Citizens Advice Bureau services on health: a realist evaluation protocol.

Introduction: Welfare advice services can be used to address health inequalities, for example, through Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). Recent reviews highlight evidence for the impact of advice services in improving people's financial position and improving mental health and well-being, daily living and social relationships. There is also some evidence for the impact of advice services in increasing accessibility of health services, and reducing general practitioner appointments and prescriptions.

Biophysical Characterization and Activity of Lymphostatin, a Multifunctional Virulence Factor of Attaching and Effacing Escherichia coli.

Attaching and effacing Escherichia coli cause diarrhea and typically produce lymphostatin (LifA), an inhibitor of mitogen-activated proliferation of lymphocytes and pro-inflammatory cytokine synthesis. A near-identical factor (Efa1) has been reported to mediate adherence of E. coli to epithelial cells.

Effectiveness and acceptability of parental financial incentives and quasi-mandatory schemes for increasing uptake of vaccinations in preschool children: systematic review, qualitative study and discrete choice experiment.

Background: Uptake of preschool vaccinations is less than optimal. Financial incentives and quasi-mandatory policies (restricting access to child care or educational settings to fully vaccinated children) have been used to increase uptake internationally, but not in the UK.

Objective: To provide evidence on the effectiveness, acceptability and economic costs and consequences of parental financial incentives and quasi-mandatory schemes for increasing the uptake of preschool vaccinations.

Epigenetic regulatory pathways involving microRNAs may modulate the host immune response following major trauma.

Background: Posttraumatic nosocomial pneumonia is a common complication resulting in significant morbidity. Trauma-induced immunocompromise is associated with an enhanced susceptibility to pneumonia. In this study, we explore the hypothesis that posttranscriptional epigenetic regulation of gene expression may be an important factor in determining this immune phenotype.

Systematic review of the use of data from national childhood obesity surveillance programmes in primary care: a conceptual synthesis.

This study reviewed the use in primary care of national surveillance data for children to determine the data's potential utility to inform policy and practice decisions on how to prevent and treat childhood obesity. We reviewed the 28 countries identified by the World Obesity Federation as having high-quality comparable body mass index data for children. Literature published from any period up to December 2013 was included.