Facilitating Perinatal Access to Resources and Support (PeARS): a feasibility study with external pilot of a novel intervention.

Background: Up to 50% of women in areas of high socio-economic deprivation are at risk of developing depressive symptoms in pregnancy. Feeling well supported, can facilitate good mental health perinatally. A brief, innovative intervention to facilitate access to support and resources was developed and tested.

A study to investigate undergraduate diagnostic radiographer preferences and expectations of clinical role development: Quantitative findings.

Introduction: Whilst United Kingdom (UK) student ambitions for role development have been surveyed previously, no literature has explored their specialisation preferences. This study aimed to explore these ambitions and preferences in final year diagnostic radiography undergraduates at a Higher-Education Institute (HEI) in the North-West of England.

Methods: University ethical approval was granted for a survey-based study.

Journey of a patient with scleroderma from renal failure up to kidney transplantation.

The increased awareness of systemic sclerosis (SS) and its pathogenetic background made the management of this disease more amenable than previously thought. However, scleroderma renal crisis (SRC) is a rarely seen as an associated disorder that may involve 2%-15% of SS patients. Patients presented with earlier, rapidly progressing, diffuse cutaneous SS disease, mostly in the first 3-5 years after non-Raynaud clinical manifestations, are more vulnerable to develop SRC.

A hitchhiker's guide through the COVID-19 galaxy.

Numerous reviews have summarized the epidemiology, pathophysiology and the various therapeutic aspects of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but a practical guide on "how to treat whom with what and when" based on an understanding of the immunological background of the disease stages remains missing. This review attempts to combine the current knowledge about the immunopathology of COVID-19 with published evidence of available and emerging treatment options. We recognize that the information about COVID-19 and its treatment is rapidly changing, but hope that this guide offers those on the frontline of this pandemic an understanding of the host response in COVID-19 patients and supports their ongoing efforts to select the best treatments tailored to their patient's clinical status.

Parents' experiences of their child's assessment on an epilepsy surgery pathway: A qualitative study.

Purpose: Children's epilepsy surgery services (CESS) in the UK aim to improve outcomes for young children by increasing access to surgery. Consideration for surgery is complex and time consuming, yet there is lack of research exploring how this process might impact on families. This study aimed to explore parents' experiences of their child consideration for epilepsy surgery to inform future service development and delivery.

Outcomes for older people with long-term conditions attending day care services delivered by paid staff or volunteers: a comparative study.

Background: Day care services support older people living with long-term conditions (LTC's).

Aims: The aims of the study were to determine outcomes in terms of loneliness and health-related quality of life for older people with LTCs attending day care services in the United Kingdom.

Methods: Newly referred older people with LTCs to day care services in North West of England and Wales were invited to participate.

SAVER: sodium valproate for the epigenetic reprogramming of high-risk oral epithelial dysplasia-a phase II randomised control trial study protocol.

Background: Sodium valproate (VPA) has been associated with a reduced risk of head and neck cancer development. The potential protective mechanism of action is believed to be via inhibition of histone deacetylase and subsequent epigenetic reprogramming. SAVER is a phase IIb open-label, randomised control trial of VPA as a chemopreventive agent in patients with high-risk oral epithelial dysplasia (OED).

How are inequalities generated in the management and consequences of gastrointestinal infections in the UK? An ethnographic study.

Gastrointestinal infections are an important global public health issue. In the UK, one in four people experience a gastrointestinal infection each year and epidemiological research highlights inequalities in the burden of disease. Specifically, poorer children are at greater risk of infection and the consequences of illness, such as symptom severity and time off work/school, are greater for less privileged groups of all ages.

Mind the gap: The relationship between liminality, learning and leaving in pre-registration nurse education.

Attrition refers to students leaving programmes of study before completion. This is an important topic area; there is a current global shortage of nurses, and it is widely reported that nursing is in crisis. Nurse education in the United Kingdom has changed substantially in the past fifty years, gradually moving from work-based apprentice style training to an 'all graduate entry' profession.

Power, control, communities and health inequalities I: theories, concepts and analytical frameworks.

This is Part I of a three-part series on community empowerment as a route to greater health equity. We argue that community 'empowerment' approaches in the health field are increasingly restricted to an inward gaze on community psycho-social capacities and proximal neighbourhood conditions, neglecting the outward gaze on political and social transformation for greater equity embedded in foundational statements on health promotion. We suggest there are three imperatives if these approaches are to contribute to increased equity.

Power, control, communities and health inequalities III: participatory spaces-an English case.

This article-third in a series of three-uses theoretical frameworks described in Part 1, and empirical markers reported in Part 2, to present evidence on how power dynamics shifted during the early years of a major English community empowerment initiative. We demonstrate how the capabilities disadvantaged communities require to exercise collective control over decisions/actions impacting on their lives and health (conceptualized as emancipatory power) and the exercise of power over these communities (conceptualized as limiting power) were shaped by the characteristics of participatory spaces created by and/or associated with this initiative. Two main types of participatory spaces were identified: governance and sense-making.

Disease control across urban-rural gradients.

Controlling the regional re-emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) after its initial spread in ever-changing personal contact networks and disease landscapes is a challenging task. In a landscape context, contact opportunities within and between populations are changing rapidly as lockdown measures are relaxed and a number of social activities re-activated. Using an individual-based metapopulation model, we explored the efficacy of different control strategies across an urban-rural gradient in Wales, UK.

Contextualising lifestyles: how socially contrasting places in Fife, Scotland influence lay understandings of lifestyle and health behaviours in relation to coronary heart disease.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a significant public health issue showing persistent geographical health inequalities. However, little attention has focussed on lay perspectives of how contrasting social contexts influence lifestyles and health behaviour in relation to CHD. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore lay perspectives of lifestyle and behaviour in socioeconomically contrasting places, with women and men who had survived a heart attack in Fife, Scotland.

Identifying fear of childbirth in a UK population: qualitative examination of the clarity and acceptability of existing measurement tools in a small UK sample.

Background: Fear of childbirth is related to but not synonymous with general anxiety, and represents a superior predictor for maternal and infant outcomes. There is a need to improve the identification and provision of support for women experiencing high fear of childbirth. However it is uncertain as to whether existing measurement tools have appropriate content validity (i.

The social underpinnings of mental distress in the time of COVID-19 - time for urgent action.

We argue that predictions of a 'tsunami' of mental health problems as a consequence of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the lockdown are overstated; feelings of anxiety and sadness are entirely normal reactions to difficult circumstances, not symptoms of poor mental health.  Some people will need specialised mental health support, especially those already leading tough lives; we need immediate reversal of years of underfunding of community mental health services.  However, the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on the most disadvantaged, especially BAME people placed at risk by their social and economic conditions, were entirely predictable.

Evaluating stakeholder involvement in building a decision support tool for NHS health checks: co-producing the WorkHORSE study.

Background: Stakeholder engagement is being increasingly recognised as an important way to achieving impact in public health. The WorkHORSE (Working Health Outcomes Research Simulation Environment) project was designed to continuously engage with stakeholders to inform the development of an open access modelling tool to enable commissioners to quantify the potential cost-effectiveness and equity of the NHS Health Check Programme. An objective of the project was to evaluate the involvement of stakeholders in co-producing the WorkHORSE computer modelling tool and examine how they perceived their involvement in the model building process and ultimately contributed to the strengthening and relevance of the modelling tool.

Predictors of emotional distress in people with multiple sclerosis: A systematic review of prospective studies.

Background: Emotional distress (defined as any negative mood state, including anxiety, depression, trauma symptoms and global distress) is common in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). To develop more integrated care for PwMS requires a better understanding of causal variables underlying persistent emotional distress. This systematic review critically appraised and synthesised the findings of prospective studies investigating predictors of emotional distress in PwMS.

Engaging with stakeholders to inform the development of a decision-support tool for the NHS health check programme: qualitative study.

Background: The NHS Health Check Programme is a risk-reduction programme offered to all adults in England aged 40-74 years. Previous studies mainly focused on patient perspectives and programme delivery; however, delivery varies, and costs are substantial. We were therefore working with key stakeholders to develop and co-produce an NHS Health Check Programme modelling tool (workHORSE) for commissioners to quantify local effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and equity.

Lay-therapist-delivered, low-intensity, psychosocial intervention for refugees and asylum seekers (PROSPER): protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Background: Asylum seekers and refugees (AS&Rs) experience impaired mental health and wellbeing, related to stresses in their country of origin, experiences in transit and reception on arrival, including significant barriers to accessing mainstream services. Their contact with health care is often crisis-driven and mediated through non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Problem Management Plus (PM+) is a psychosocial intervention recommended by the World Health Organisation to address distress experienced by adults affected by humanitarian crises.

Post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders: Current concepts and future therapeutic approaches.

Transplant recipients are vulnerable to a higher risk of malignancy after solid organ transplantation and allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplant. Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) include a wide spectrum of diseases ranging from benign proliferation of lymphoid tissues to frank malignancy with aggressive behavior. Two main risk factors of PTLD are: Firstly, the cumulative immunosuppressive burden, and secondly, the oncogenic impact of the Epstein-Barr virus.

Taking the long view: the development of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act.

Background: The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, 2015 (WFG Act), aims to change the ways of working in Wales to be sustainable for the future. Goals within the WFG Act include 'a healthier Wales', 'a more equal Wales' and 'a more prosperous Wales'. Reviewing key factors that led to Wales enacting this ground-breaking legislation is worthwhile for other legislatures around the world that may wish to create policy for future generations.

Simulated versus traditional therapeutic radiography placements: A randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Clinical placements provide rich learning environments for health professional pre-registration education but add significant workload pressure to clinical departments. Advances in simulation approaches mean that many aspects of students' clinical learning can be undertaken in the academic environment. There is, however, little data identifying specific pedagogical gains afforded by simulation compared to clinical placement.