Recruiting hard-to-reach populations to physical activity studies : evidence and experiences

Most researchers who are conducting research with a public health focus face difficulties in recruiting the segments of the population that they really want to reach. This symposium presented evidence and experiences on recruiting participants to physical activity research, including both epidemiological and intervention based studies. Results from a systematic review of recruitment strategies suggested that we know little about how best to recruit and highlighted the need for researchers to report this in more detail, including metrics of reach into the target population such as number, proportion, and representativeness of participants. Specific strategies used to optimise responses to a population-based mail survey were presented such as study promotion, survey design, multiple mailings, and personal engagement. Finally, using place based recruiting via schools or places of worship to target ethnic minority youth were discussed. Overall the symposium presenters suggested that we need to learn more about how best to recruit participants, in particular those typically under-represented, and that researchers need to apportion a similar amount of planning effort to their recruitment strategies as they do the their research design. Finally we made a plea for researchers to report their recruitment processes in detail

Assessing the barriers and enablers to the implementation of the diagnostic radiographer musculoskeletal X‑ray reporting service within the NHS in England: a systematic literature review

Introduction The United Kingdom (UK) government’s healthcare policy in the early 1990s paved the way adoption of the skills mix development and implementation of diagnostic radiographers’ X-ray reporting service. Current clinical practice within the public UK healthcare system reflects the same pressures of increased demand in patient imaging and limited capacity of the reporting workforce (radiographers and radiologists) as in the 1990s. This study aimed to identify, define and assess the longitudinal macro, meso, and micro barriers and enablers to the implementation of the diagnostic radiographer musculoskeletal X-ray reporting service in the National Healthcare System (NHS) in England. Methods Multiple independent databases were searched, including PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE; Embase; CINAHL, and Google Scholar, as well as journal databases (Scopus, Wiley), healthcare databases (NHS Evidence Database; Cochrane Library) and grey literature databases (OpenGrey, GreyNet International, and the British Library EthOS depository) and recorded in a PRISMA flow chart. A combination of keywords, Boolean logic, truncation, parentheses and wildcards with inclusion/exclusion criteria and a time frame of 1995–2022 was applied. The literature was assessed against Joanna Briggs Institute’s critical appraisal checklists. With meta-aggregation to synthesize each paper, and coded using NVivo, with context grouped into macro, meso, and micro-level sources and categorised into subgroups of enablers and barriers. Results The wide and diverse range of data (n = 241 papers) identified barriers and enablers of implementation, which were categorised into measures of macro, meso, and micro levels, and thematic categories of context, culture, environment, and leadership. Conclusion The literature since 1995 has reframed the debates on implementation of the radiographer reporting role and has been instrumental in shaping clinical practice. There has been clear influence upon both meso (professional body) and macro-level (governmental/health service) policies and guidance, that have shaped change at micro-level NHS Trust organisations. There is evidence of a shift in culturally intrenched legacy perspectives within and between different meso-level professional bodies around skills mix acceptance and role boundaries. This has helped shape capacity building of the reporting workforce. All of which have contributed to conceptual understandings of the skills mix workforce within modern radiology services

A survey of the NHS reporting radiographer workforce in England

Introduction: At present there is no national register of the population size and scope of reporting radiographers in England. This makes operational workforce and succession planning for sustainable healthcare services in the National Health Service England (NHSE) difficult, affecting implementing NHSE policies and priorities such as 50% of X-rays reported by reporting radiographers and decreasing reporting Turnaround Times (TATs). This survey aimed to establish the workforce population employed as reporting radiographers in NHSE. Methods: An online anonymous seven question survey was distributed on social media and at the UK Imaging and Oncology Congress. Participant criteria included NHSE radiology staff (diagnostic radiographer, reporting radiographer, radiology manager, imaging superintendent modality lead, consultant radiologist, etc.) or a student diagnostic radiographer working within an NHSE trust. The survey recorded the participant's NHSE region (North Western, North Eastern and Yorkshire, Midlands, East of England, London, South Eastern and South Western regions), Integrated Care Systems (ICS), NHSE Trust, hospital, the amount of reporting radiographers and trainees employed, the Agenda for Change (AfC) job banding and imaging modality reported (X-ray, CT, MRI, NM, PET, DEXA). The data analysis applied descriptive statistics for estimating patterns and trends in the distribution of data (English region, AfC banding and imaging modality). Results: Responses were received from all seven of the NHSE regions (n=36/43 ICSs). The data demonstrated a larger workforce in the north of England than in the south, with employment at a range of AfC bandings from 5-8. The imaging modalities reported by radiographers in England demonstrated X-ray (n=34), the most reported imaging examination by region, and Nuclear Medicine (n=3) the least, with evidence of clinical reporting for CT (n=20), MRI (n=18), DEXA (n=16), Mammography (n=13) and fluoroscopy (n=12) being completed by radiographers in England. Conclusion: The findings for England (n=704 reporters; n=142 trainees) provide an estimate based on the response rate of the current reporting radiographer workforce across the NHSE regions, and their contribution to the skills mix radiology reporting service delivery. It is hoped future surveys will provide ongoing workforce estimates for the diagnostic radiographer reporting workforce in NHSE to support workforce transformation and sustainability plans for the radiography profession and to meet government healthcare targets and priorities

In vitro induction of tumour-specific immunity V. Detection of common antigenic determinatnts of murine fibrosarcomas.

Two 3-methylcholanthrene and a spontaneous BALB/c fibrosarcoma were examined for tumour-associated antigens (TAA) by in vivo and in vitro induction of tumour-immune responses. When BALB/c mice were immunized to these fibrosarcomas by surgical tumour removal, cross-reacting tumour-associated transplantation antigens (TATA) were detected on all 3 tumours. Cytotoxic effector cells (CL) were then induced in vitro by co-culture of BALB/c spleen cells with the spontaneous, or one of the carcinogen-induced fibrosarcomas. These CL were shown to be cytotoxic T cells (Tc) and to be directed against cross-reacting TAA on all 3 tumours, by two in vitro 51Cr-release assay systems, direct 51Cr-release cytotoxicity and cellular competitive inhibition of 51Cr release. Further studies demonstrated that the fibrosarcoma TAA involved in in vitro induction of Tc were not present on normal adult or foetal tissues. A secondary cytotoxic response was also detected in vitro when spleen cells from mice immunized to a carcinogen-induced fibrosarcoma were tested. The patterns of cross-reactivity detected by the in vivo and primary in vitro tumour-immune responses suggested that the TAA detected in vivo (TATA) were not identical to the TAA detected in vitro

The molecular environment of massive star forming cores associated with Class II methanol maser emission

Methanol maser emission has proven to be an excellent signpost of regions undergoing massive star formation (MSF). To investigate their role as an evolutionary tracer, we have recently completed a large observing program with the ATCA to derive the dynamical and physical properties of molecular/ionised gas towards a sample of MSF regions traced by 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission. We find that the molecular gas in many of these regions breaks up into multiple sub-clumps which we separate into groups based on their association with/without methanol maser and cm continuum emission. The temperature and dynamic state of the molecular gas is markedly different between the groups. Based on these differences, we attempt to assess the evolutionary state of the cores in the groups and thus investigate the role of class II methanol masers as a tracer of MSF.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, IAU Symposium 242 Conference Proceeding

Natural cytotoxicity of haemopoietic cell populations against murine lymphoid tumours.

Homozygous nude and normal mice of 3 strains, BALB/c, CBA and C57BL, were used as sources of nucleated haemopoietic "natural killer" (NK) cells. These killer cells could lyse a wide range of syngeneic and allogeneic lymphoid tumour cell lines in vitro, and it was found that cell suspensions from nude mice were always significantly more active than those from normal mice, and that the most active effector population was a polymorph-enriched peritoneal-exudate cell suspension. Eosinophils did not appear to be involved in the phenomenon, and mononuclear peritoneal-exudate cell suspensions were actually highly inhibitory. Three non-lymphoid tumours, a carcinoma, a fibrosarcoma and a mastocytoma, were totally resistant to in vitro lysis. Although all susceptible tumour cell lines were C-type virus-associated, not all of these tumours were killed by all strain sources of spleen cells, indicating a specificity of killing

The risks of concurrent treatment with tenofovir and aminoglycosides in patients with HIV-associated tuberculosis

The South African public sector antiretroviral treatment (ART) guidelines have recently been changed to include tenofovir in the first-line regimen.1 Injectable drugs from the aminoglycoside class are part of the intensive phase of regimen 2 tuberculosis (TB) treatment and the multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB treatment regimen in the South African TB programme. We wish to draw the attention of clinicians managing patients with HIVassociated TB to the potential dangers of concurrent administration of these drugs. We present two illustrative cases

Understanding person acquisition using an interactive activation and competition network

Face perception is one of the most developed visual skills that humans display, and recent work has attempted to examine the mechanisms involved in face perception through noting how neural networks achieve the same performance. The purpose of the present paper is to extend this approach to look not just at human face recognition, but also at human face acquisition. Experiment 1 presents empirical data to describe the acquisition over time of appropriate representations for newly encountered faces. These results are compared with those of Simulation 1, in which a modified IAC network capable of modelling the acquisition process is generated. Experiment 2 and Simulation 2 explore the mechanisms of learning further, and it is demonstrated that the acquisition of a set of associated new facts is easier than the acquisition of individual facts in isolation of one another. This is explained in terms of the advantage gained from additional inputs and mutual reinforcement of developing links within an interactive neural network system. <br/