The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Oldest-Old Social Capital and Health and the Role of Digital Inequalities: Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, information and communication technology (ICT) became crucial for staying connected with loved ones and accessing health services. In this scenario, disparities in ICT use may have exacerbated other forms of inequality, especially among older adults who were less familiar with technology and more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 health consequences.

Objective: This study investigated changes in ICT use, psychological and physical health, and social capital before and after the pandemic among the oldest old population (aged 80 years or older after the pandemic) and explored how internet use influenced these changes.

Explaining the pathways through which social capital buffered mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal analysis.

Background: Research suggests that individuals' local social networks, norms of reciprocity and sense of belonging (their local social capital, henceforth LSC), can cushion the impact of adverse events on their mental health. However, to date, little research has explored the pathways through which LSC operates to buffer stressors, especially during major crises, e.g.

Cohort trends in intrinsic capacity in England and China.

To understand how the health of older adults today compares to that of previous generations, we estimated intrinsic capacity and subdomains of cognitive, locomotor, sensory, psychological and vitality capacities in participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Applying multilevel growth curve models, we found that more recent cohorts entered older ages with higher levels of capacity, while subsequent age-related declines were somewhat compressed compared to earlier cohorts. Trends were most evident for the cognitive, locomotor and vitality capacities.

The FAIR database: facilitating access to public health research literature.

Objectives: In public health, access to research literature is critical to informing decision-making and to identify knowledge gaps. However, identifying relevant research is not a straightforward task since public health interventions are often complex, can have positive and negative impacts on health inequalities and are applied in diverse and rapidly evolving settings. We developed a "living" database of public health research literature to facilitate access to this information using Natural Language Processing tools.

How should policymakers, funders, and research teams mobilize to build the evidence base on universal early years services?

Health visiting in England is a universal service that aims to promote the healthy development of children aged under five years and safeguard their welfare. We consulted stakeholders about their priorities for research into health visiting and also used these consultations and a literature review to generate a logic model. Parents wanted research to explore how health visiting teams can provide a caring, responsive, accessible service (the mechanisms of change).

Large language models, updates, and evaluation of automation tools for systematic reviews: a summary of significant discussions at the eighth meeting of the International Collaboration for the Automation of Systematic Reviews (ICASR).

The eighth meeting of the International Collaboration for the Automation of Systematic Reviews (ICASR) was held on September 7 and 8, 2023, at the University College London, London, England. ICASR is an interdisciplinary group whose goal is to maximize the use of technology for conducting rapid, accurate, and efficient evidence synthesis, e.g.

How to mitigate selection bias in COVID-19 surveys: evidence from five national cohorts.

Non-response to surveys is a common problem; even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic with social distancing measures challenging data collection. As respondents often differ from non-respondents, this can introduce bias. The goal of the current study was to see if we can reduce bias and restore sample representativeness in a series of COVID-19 surveys embedded within five UK cohort studies by using the rich data available from previous waves of data collection.

The Impact of Non-Fiscal Mandatory and Voluntary Policies and Interventions on the Reformulation of Food and Beverage Products: A Systematic Review.

: Low quality diets are a risk factor for non-communicable diseases; therefore, improving diet quality is a public health and policy priority in the UK and elsewhere. Reformulating food/beverage products to make them healthier may be an effective approach. Evidence suggests that fiscal interventions, notably taxes/levies on soft drinks, can lead to reformulation but the evidence for voluntary or mandated non-fiscal interventions is less clear.

Understanding the performance of geographic limits on Web of Science Core Collection databases, using the United Kingdom as an example.

Objective: To consider the approaches within Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) databases for limiting geographically. To compare the limits to an adaptation of NICE's UK MEDLINE filter for use on WoSCC databases.

Methods: We tested and appraised the inbuilt functions and search field options that support identification by countries/regions and affiliations.

Searching for studies: A guide to information retrieval for Campbell systematic reviews.

This guide outlines general issues in searching for studies; describes the main sources of potential studies; and discusses how to plan the search process, design, and carry out search strategies, manage references found during the search process and document and report the search process.

Does personality matter? Exploring its moderating role on the relationship between neighbourhood ethnic outgroup-size and preferences for Brexit.

Prior research has examined the relationship between ethnic outgroup-size at the neighbourhood level and Brexit support, yet there is a lack of understanding on the factors that moderate these effects. This paper critically extends prior debate by focusing on how personality traits moderate not only the extent to which the levels (2011) of ethnic outgroup-size in individuals' residential neighbourhoods but also the increase thereof (2001-2011) are associated with individuals' preferences about the 2016 Brexit referendum. Using data from Understanding Society, we find that two personality traits, agreeableness and openness, are key moderators affecting the above-mentioned relationship.

Qualitative Comparative Analysis of exercise interventions for fall prevention in residential aged care facilities.

Background: Exercise interventions are highly effective at preventing falls in older people living in the community. In residential aged care facilities (RACFs), however, the evidence for effectiveness is highly variable, warranting exploration of drivers of successful trials. This study aims to identify the conditions of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that are associated with reducing falls in RACFs and test whether it can explain the variability.

Access to natural green spaces and their associations with psychological wellbeing for South Asian people in the UK: A systematic literature review.

Use of natural green spaces (NGS) is associated with improved psychological well-being (PWB). Ethnic minorities, particularly South Asian (SA) communities in the UK, face unequal access to NGS and experience a greater prevalence of health challenges than the general population. Improving access to green space can contribute to addressing current health inequalities.

Care-experienced young people's views and experiences of accessing general practice and dental services and attending health reviews in England: a qualitative study.

Background: Children in care and care leavers have worse health outcomes than their peers without care experience. This study addresses an evidence gap in exploring care-experienced young people's views and experiences of accessing general practice and dental services and attending health reviews in England.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using podcasting as a creative medium.

How can imaginal retraining for modifying food craving be improved?

Imaginal retraining (IR) is an emerging intervention technique in which people imagine avoidance behaviors towards imagined foods or other substances, such as throwing them away. Although IR shows promise in reducing initial craving for a range of substances, including alcohol and tobacco, effects appear less robust for craving for energy-dense foods. This raises the question of how IR for food craving can be improved.

ICDXML: enhancing ICD coding with probabilistic label trees and dynamic semantic representations.

Accurately assigning standardized diagnosis and procedure codes from clinical text is crucial for healthcare applications. However, this remains challenging due to the complexity of medical language. This paper proposes a novel model that incorporates extreme multi-label classification tasks to enhance International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding.

Potential asthma risk factors do not account for global asthma symptom prevalence patterns and time trends in children and adolescents.

Background: The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) and the Global Asthma Network (GAN) conducted a series of global asthma prevalence surveys, between 1990 and 2020, in adolescents aged 13-14 and children aged 6-7 years. We used them to assess whether potential asthma risk factors explain global asthma symptom prevalence trends over this period.

Method: We fitted mixed-effects linear regression models to estimate associations between centre-level risk factor prevalence and both the mid-point asthma symptom prevalence and the change per decade.

Electronic cigarettes and subsequent use of cigarettes in young people: An evidence and gap map.

Background And Aims: The use of e-cigarettes may influence later smoking uptake in young people. Evidence and gap maps (EGMs) are interactive on-line tools that display the evidence and gaps in a specific area of policy or research. The aim of this study was to map clusters and gaps in evidence exploring the relationship between e-cigarette use or availability and subsequent combustible tobacco use in people aged < 30 years.

Access to primary care for children and young people (CYP) in the UK: a scoping review of CYP's, caregivers' and healthcare professionals' views and experiences of facilitators and barriers.

Objectives: To examine children and young people's (CYP), caregivers' and healthcare professionals' (HCPs) views or experiences of facilitators and barriers to CYP access to UK primary care services to better understand healthcare inequity. To explore differences across CYP subpopulations with greater health needs from deprived areas, identifying as ethnic minorities, with experiences of state care, special educational needs or disabilities, chronic conditions or mental health problems.

Design: Scoping review.

Patient and caregiver characteristics associated with differential use of primary care for children and young people in the UK: a scoping review.

Objective: To systematically map evidence to answer the research question: DESIGN: Scoping review.

Setting: Primary care.

Eligibility Criteria: English-language quantitative or mixed-methods studies published between 2012 and 2022.