263 research outputs found

    Waiting for child developmental and rehabilitation services: an overview of issues and needs

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    Concern about the length of time that children, young people, and families may have to wait to access assessment, diagnostic, interventional, therapeutic, and supportive child developmental and rehabilitation (CDR) services is widespread, but adequate data collection and research on this issue remain limited. We review key concepts and issues relevant to waiting for CDR services from the published literature, a national workshop devoted to this topic, and international experience. We conclude that gaps in data, evidence, and consensus challenge our ability to address the issue of waiting for CDR services in a systematic way. A program of research coupled with actions based on consensus-building is required. Research priorities include acquiring evidence of the appropriateness and effectiveness of different models of intervention and rehabilitation services, and documenting the experience and expectations of waiting families. Consensus-building processes are critical to identify, categorize, and prioritize \u27sentinel\u27 components of CDR service pathways: (1) to reduce the inherent complexity of the field; (2) to create benchmarks for waiting for these respective services; and (3) to develop definitions for wait-time subcomponents in CDR services. Collection of accurate and replicable data on wait times for CDR services can be used to document baseline realities, to monitor and improve system performance, and to conduct comparative and analytic research in the field of CDR services

    A rational roadmap for SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pharmacotherapeutic research and development: IUPHAR Review 29.

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    In this review, we identify opportunities for drug discovery in the treatment of COVID-19 and, in so doing, provide a rational roadmap whereby pharmacology and pharmacologists can mitigate against the global pandemic. We assess the scope for targeting key host and viral targets in the mid-term, by first screening these targets against drugs already licensed, an agenda for drug repurposing, which should allow rapid translation to clinical trials. A simultaneous, multi-pronged approach using conventional drug discovery methods aimed at discovering novel chemical and biological means of targeting a short list of host and viral entities which should extend the arsenal of anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents. This longer term strategy would provide a deeper pool of drug choices for future-proofing against acquired drug resistance. Second, there will be further viral threats, which will inevitably evade existing vaccines. This will require a coherent therapeutic strategy which pharmacology and pharmacologists are best placed to provide. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed issue on The Pharmacology of COVID-19. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v177.21/issuetoc.Welcome Trust 107715/Z/15/

    Storm-induced inner-continental shelf circulation and sediment transport : Long Bay, South Carolina

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    This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Continental Shelf Research 42 (2012): 51–63, doi:10.1016/j.csr.2012.05.001.Long Bay is a sediment-starved, arcuate embayment located along the US East Coast connecting both South and North Carolina. In this region the rates and pathways of sediment transport are important because they determine the availability of sediments for beach nourishment, seafloor habitat, and navigation. The impact of storms on sediment transport magnitude and direction were investigated during the period October 2003–April 2004 using bottom mounted flow meters, acoustic backscatter sensors and rotary sonars deployed at eight sites offshore of Myrtle Beach, SC, to measure currents, water levels, surface waves, salinity, temperature, suspended sediment concentrations, and bedform morphology. Measurements identify that sediment mobility is caused by waves and wind driven currents from three predominant types of storm patterns that pass through this region: (1) cold fronts, (2) warm fronts and (3) low-pressure storms. The passage of a cold front is accompanied by a rapid change in wind direction from primarily northeastward to southwestward. The passage of a warm front is accompanied by an opposite change in wind direction from mainly southwestward to northeastward. Low-pressure systems passing offshore are accompanied by a change in wind direction from southwestward to southeastward as the offshore storm moves from south to north. During the passage of cold fronts more sediment is transported when winds are northeastward and directed onshore than when the winds are directed offshore, creating a net sediment flux to the north–east. Likewise, even though the warm front has an opposite wind pattern, net sediment flux is typically to the north–east due to the larger fetch when the winds are northeastward and directed onshore. During the passage of low-pressure systems strong winds, waves, and currents to the south are sustained creating a net sediment flux southwestward. During the 3-month deployment a total of 8 cold fronts, 10 warm fronts, and 10 low-pressure systems drove a net sediment flux southwestward. Analysis of a 12-year data record from a local buoy shows an average of 41 cold fronts, 32 warm fronts, and 26 low-pressure systems per year. The culmination of these events would yield a cumulative net inner-continental shelf transport to the south–west, a trend that is further verified by sediment textural analysis and bedform morphology on the inner-continental shelf.This research was funded by the South Carolina Coastal Erosion Project(http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3041/), a cooperative study supported by the US Geological Survey and the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium(Sea Grant Project no:R/CP-11)

    Rehabilitation aimed at improving outdoor mobility for people after stroke: a multicentre randomised controlled study (the Getting out of the House Study)

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    Background: One-third of stroke patients are dependent on others to get outside their homes. This can cause people to become housebound, leading to increased immobility, poor health, isolation and misery. There is some evidence that outdoor mobility rehabilitation can reduce these limitations. Objective: To test the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an outdoor mobility rehabilitation intervention for stroke patients. Design: Multicentre, parallel-group randomised controlled trial, with two groups allocated at a 1 : 1 ratio plus qualitative participant interviews. Setting: Fifteen UK NHS stroke services throughout England, Scotland and Wales. Participants: A total of 568 stroke patients who wished to get out of the house more often, mean age of 71 years: 508 reached the 6-month follow-up and 10 were interviewed. Intervention: Control was delivered prior to randomisation to all participants, and consisted of verbal advice and transport and outdoor mobility leaflets. Intervention was a targeted outdoor mobility rehabilitation programme delivered by 29 NHS therapists to 287 randomly chosen participants for up to 12 sessions over 4 months. Main outcome measures: Primary outcome was participant health-related quality of life, measured by the Short Form questionnaire-36 items, version 2 (Social Function domain), 6 months after baseline. Secondary outcomes were functional ability, mobility, number of journeys (from monthly travel diaries), satisfaction with outdoor mobility (SWOM), psychological well-being and resource use [health care and Personal Social Services (PSS)] 6 months after baseline. Carer well-being was recorded. All outcome measures were collected by post and repeated 12 months after baseline. Outcomes for the groups were compared using statistical significance testing and adjusted for multiple membership to account for the effect of multiple therapists at different sites. Interviews were analysed using interpretive phenomenology to explore confidence. Results: A median of seven intervention sessions [interquartile range (IQR) 3–7 sessions], median duration of 369 minutes (IQR 170–691.5 minutes) per participant was delivered. There was no significant difference between the groups on health-related quality of life (social function). There were no significant differences between groups in functional ability, psychological well-being or SWOM at 6- or 12-month follow-ups. There was a significant difference observed for travel journeys with the intervention group being 42% more likely to make a journey compared with the control group [rate ratio 1.42, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.14 to 1.67] at 6 months and 76% more likely (rate ratio 1.76, 95% CI 1.36 to 1.95) at 12 months. The number of journeys was affected by the therapist effect. The mean incremental cost (total NHS and PSS cost) of the intervention was £3413.75 (95% CI –£448.43 to £7121.00), with an incremental quality-adjusted life-year gain of –0.027 (95% CI –0.060 to 0.007) according to the European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions and –0.003 (95% CI –0.016 to 0.006) according to the Short Form questionnaire-6 Dimensions. At baseline, 259 out of 281 (92.2%) participants in the control group were dissatisfied with outdoor mobility but at the 6-month assessment this had reduced to 77.7% (181/233), a 15% reduction. The corresponding reduction in the intervention group was slightly greater (21%) than 268 out of 287 (93.4%) participants dissatisfied with outdoor mobility at baseline to 189 out of 261 (72.4%) at 6 months. Participants described losing confidence after stroke as being detrimental to outdoor mobility. Recruitment and retention rates were high. The intervention was deliverable by the NHS but had a neutral effect in all areas apart from potentially increasing the number of journeys. This was dependent on the therapist effect, meaning that some therapists were more successful than others. The control appeared to affect change. Conclusions: The outdoor mobility intervention provided in this study to these stroke patients was not clinically effective or cost-effective. However, the provision of personalised information and monthly diaries should be considered for all people who wish to get out more

    The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2023/24:Nuclear hormone receptors

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    The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2023/24 is the sixth in this series of biennial publications. The Concise Guide provides concise overviews, mostly in tabular format, of the key properties of approximately 1800 drug targets, and nearly 6000 interactions with about 3900 ligands. There is an emphasis on selective pharmacology (where available), plus links to the open access knowledgebase source of drug targets and their ligands (https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/), which provides more detailed views of target and ligand properties. Although the Concise Guide constitutes almost 500 pages, the material presented is substantially reduced compared to information and links presented on the website. It provides a permanent, citable, point-in-time record that will survive database updates. The full contents of this section can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.16179. Nuclear hormone receptors are one of the six major pharmacological targets into which the Guide is divided, with the others being: G protein-coupled receptors, catalytic receptors, enzymes and transporters. These are presented with nomenclature guidance and summary information on the best available pharmacological tools, alongside key references and suggestions for further reading. The landscape format of the Concise Guide is designed to facilitate comparison of related targets from material contemporary to mid-2023, and supersedes data presented in the 2021/22, 2019/20, 2017/18, 2015/16 and 2013/14 Concise Guides and previous Guides to Receptors and Channels. It is produced in close conjunction with the Nomenclature and Standards Committee of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (NC-IUPHAR), therefore, providing official IUPHAR classification and nomenclature for human drug targets, where appropriate.</p

    The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY in 2024

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    The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (GtoPdb; https://www.guidetopharmacology.org) is an open-access, expert-curated, online database that provides succinct overviews and key references for pharmacological targets and their recommended experimental ligands. It includes over 3039 protein targets and 12 163 ligand molecules, including approved drugs, small molecules, peptides and antibodies. Here, we report recent developments to the resource and describe expansion in content over the six database releases made during the last two years. The database update section of this paper focuses on two areas relating to important global health challenges. The first, SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19, remains a major concern and we describe our efforts to expand the database to include a new family of coronavirus proteins. The second area is antimicrobial resistance, for which we have extended our coverage of antibacterials in partnership with AntibioticDB, a collaboration that has continued through support from GARDP. We discuss other areas of curation and also focus on our external links to resources such as PubChem that bring important synergies to the resources. [Abstract copyright: © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.
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