Cancer Survival Group: UK Life Tables

Life tables constructed by the Cancer Survival Group for use in survival analyses covering England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland between 1971 and 2009. Variables contained include: sex, age, mortality rate, calendar year, country, Government Office Region and deprivation indices

Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness Dataset: Vietnam, Nghe An (2012)

Anonymous participant level dataset including variables for visual acuity, spectacle use, lens status, cause of vision impairment, cataract surgical history, barriers to cataract surgery and population count data for five-year age-gender groups for males and females 50 years and olde

Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness Dataset: Liberia (2012)

Anonymous participant level dataset including variables for visual acuity, spectacle use, lens status, cause of vision impairment, cataract surgical history, barriers to cataract surgery and population count data for five-year age-gender groups for males and females 50 years and olde

Combining insecticide treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying for malaria vector control in Africa

Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) are the preferred techniques for malaria vector control in Africa, where their application has already contributed to significant reductions in the burden of the disease. Even though both methods are commonly used together in the same households, evidence of greater health benefits due to these combinations as opposed to use of either ITNs or IRS alone has been minimal and inconclusive. Objectives and methods: The main aim of this research was therefore to contribute to this essential evidence, by way of experimental hut studies and mathematical simulations. I investigated whether there would be any added protective advantages when any of three selected long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are combined with any of three selected IRS chemicals, as opposed to using any of the treatments alone. Data generated from the experimental but studies was then input into an optimised deterministic mathematical model, simulating a typical malaria endemic village. Results and conclusions: Both the field studies and the simulations showed that any synergies or redundancies resulting from LLIN/IRS combinations are primarily a function of modes of action of active ingredients used in the two interventions. Where LLINs are already present, addition of IRS would be redundant unless the IRS chemical is highly toxic, but where IRS is the pre-existing intervention, these combinations always confer improved protection. Therefore, IRS households should always be supplemented with nets, preferably LLINs, which not only protect house occupants against mosquito bites, but also kill additional mosquitoes. Finally, where resources are limited, priority should be given to providing everybody with LLINs and ensuring that these nets are consistently and appropriately used, rather than trying to implement both LLINs and IRS in the same community at the same time

Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness Dataset: Mozambique, Sofala (2012)

Anonymous participant level dataset including variables for visual acuity, spectacle use, lens status, cause of vision impairment, cataract surgical history, barriers to cataract surgery and population count data for five-year age-gender groups for males and females 50 years and olde

Tuberculosis Patients Blood Gene Expression Through Treatment

Accurate assessment of treatment efficacy would facilitate clinical trials of new anti-tuberculosis drugs. TB patients exhibit altered peripheral immunity which reverts during successful treatment. We hypothesised that these changes could be observed in whole blood transcriptome profiles. Methods Ex vivo blood samples from 27 pulmonary TB patients were assayed at diagnosis and during conventional treatment. RNA was processed and hybridised to Affymetrix GeneChips, to determine expression of over 47,000 transcripts. Findings There were significant changes in expression of over 4,000 genes during treatment. Rapid, large scale changes were detected, with down-regulated expression of ~1,000 genes within the first week, including inflammatory markers such as the complement components C1q and C2. This was followed by slower changes in expression of different networks of genes, including a later increase in expression of B cell markers, transcription factors and signalling molecules. Interpretation The expression of many genes is drastically altered during TB disease, with components of the humoral immune response being markedly affected. The treatment-induced restoration reflects the simultaneous suppression and activation of different immune responses in TB. The rapid initial down-regulation of expression of inflammatory mediators coincides with rapid killing of actively dividing bacilli, whereas slower delayed changes occur as drugs act on dormant bacilli and as lung pathology resolves. Measurement of biosignatures during clinical trials of new drugs could be useful predictors of rapid bactericidal or sterilizing drug activity. Ex vivo blood samples analysed for 27 first episode pulmonary TB patients, at diagnosis and after 1, 2, 4 and 26 weeks of treatment

Phase Ia clinical evaluation of the safety and immunogenicity of the Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage antigen AMA1 in ChAd63 and MVA vaccine vectors

Traditionally, vaccine development against the blood-stage of Plasmodium falciparum infection has focused on recombinant protein-adjuvant formulations in order to induce high-titer growth-inhibitory antibody responses. However, to date no such vaccine encoding a blood-stage antigen(s) alone has induced significant protective efficacy against erythrocytic-stage infection in a pre-specified primary endpoint of a Phase IIa/b clinical trial designed to assess vaccine efficacy. Cell-mediated responses, acting in conjunction with functional antibodies, may be necessary for immunity against blood-stage P. falciparum. The development of a vaccine that could induce both cell-mediated and humoral immune responses would enable important proof-of-concept efficacy studies to be undertaken to address this question

IDEAS project - Feasibility study for a Data Informed Platform for Health in Ethiopia

The IDEAS project sought to improve the health and survival of mothers and babies through generating evidence to inform policy and practice. This is the documentation for a study to assess the feasibility of introducing a Data Informed Platform for Health (DIPH) – a framework to guide coordination and bring together key data from public and private health sectors on inputs and processes that could influence maternal and newborn health in Ethiopia. The DIPH was intended to promote the use of local data for decision-making and priority setting at local health administration level, and for programme appraisal and comparison at regional, zonal and woreda level. A preliminary scoping visit - a series of meetings with woreda health offices, health centres and health posts, private health facilities and NGOs - to introduce the IDEAS project and DIPH work, select those to be covered in the feasibility study, and identify key contacts – and for the feasibility study was conducted prior to the feasibility study. These resources include a scoping visit field report, and documentation for the DIPH feasibility study, including the concept note and protocol, a question list and field report

Eyescores - Electronic Data Capture and photographic evidence collection platform for biological field studies.

Eyescores is an open platform for secure electronic data capture and photographic evidence collection for use in biological field studies. The Perl-based tool allows users to label, modify, watermark and transfer photographs in real time using regular expressions. On-the-fly encryption of subjects’ personal data is performed using secure openSSL protocols

Tuberculosis Patients Blood Gene Expression Through Treatment (cured and end-of-treatment patients)

Background Accurate assessment of treatment efficacy would facilitate clinical trials of new anti-tuberculosis drugs. TB patients exhibit altered peripheral immunity which reverts during successful treatment. We hypothesised that these changes could be observed in whole blood transcriptome profiles. Methods Ex vivo blood samples from 27 pulmonary TB patients were assayed at diagnosis and during conventional treatment. RNA was processed and hybridised to Affymetrix GeneChips, to determine expression of over 47,000 transcripts. Findings There were significant changes in expression of over 4,000 genes during treatment. Rapid, large scale changes were detected, with down-regulated expression of ~1,000 genes within the first week, including inflammatory markers such as the complement components C1q and C2. This was followed by slower changes in expression of different networks of genes, including a later increase in expression of B cell markers, transcription factors and signalling molecules. Interpretation The expression of many genes is drastically altered during TB disease, with components of the humoral immune response being markedly affected. The treatment-induced restoration reflects the simultaneous suppression and activation of different immune responses in TB. The rapid initial down-regulation of expression of inflammatory mediators coincides with rapid killing of actively dividing bacilli, whereas slower delayed changes occur as drugs act on dormant bacilli and as lung pathology resolves. Measurement of biosignatures during clinical trials of new drugs could be useful predictors of rapid bactericidal or sterilizing drug activity. Ex vivo blood samples analysed during TB treatment. These samples are from 9 successfully cured patients at diagnosis and end-of-treatment at 26 weeks