Surfing or still drowning? Student nurses’ Internet skills

A study into student nurses’ ability to use the Internet was published in Nurse Education Today in 2004. This paper repeats the research with a cohort of students starting their pre-registration programme in a UK university in 2007. In 2004 students were reported as having poor Internet skills, and as not being frequent users of the Internet. In this study students were found to have significantly better ability to carry out basic tasks and significantly higher levels of Internet use. Their ability to apply these skills to more complex information literacy tasks however had not increased, with more than half of all students saying they found far too much irrelevant information when searching for specific information on the Internet. The earlier study found that skills and age were not related, which appears to still be the case. The need for these skills is increasing as education, lifelong learning, and patient information are all increasingly drawing on the developing Internet. Nurse education however is not integrating the skill and knowledge base essential to support this into pre-registration programmes, and the evidence suggests that this will not happen without active management

Brief motivational enhancement intervention to prevent or reduce postpartum alcohol use: a single-blinded, randomized controlled effectiveness trial

AIMS: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of brief motivational enhancement intervention postpartum alcohol use. DESIGN: This study is a single-blinded, randomized controlled effectiveness trial in which pregnant women were assigned to receive usual care or up to 5 face-to-face brief motivational enhancement sessions lasting 10-30 minutes each and occurring at study enrollment, 4 and 8 weeks after enrollment, 32 weeks of gestation, and 6 weeks postpartum. SETTING: The setting is in a large, urban, obstetrics clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were women who were \u3e/= 18 years old,gestation, and consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Of 3438 women screened, 330 eligible women were assigned to usual care (n = 165) or intervention (n=165). Due to missing data, we analyzed 125 in the intervention group and 126 in the usual care group. MEASUREMENTS: The measurements were the proportion of women with any alcohol use and the number of drinks per day, reported via follow-up telephone interviews at 4 and 8 weeks after enrollment, 32 weeks of gestation, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum. FINDINGS: In random effects models adjusted for confounders, the intervention group was less likely to use any alcohol (odds ratio 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23-1.09; P=0.08) and consumed fewer drinks per day (coefficient -0.11; 95% CI -0.23-0.01; P=0.07) than, the usual care group in the postpartum period but these differences were non-significant. Missing data during the prenatal period prevented us from modeling prenatal alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: Brief motivational enhancement intervention delivered in an obstetrical outpatient setting did not conclusively decrease alcohol use during the postpartum period

A prolonged and exaggerated wound response with elevated ODC activity mimics early tumor development

Induction of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), a key enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis, in ODC transgenic skin stimulates epidermal proliferation but not hyperplasia, activates underlying stromal cells and promotes skin tumorigenesis following a single subthreshold dose of a carcinogen. Because chronic wounds are a well-recognized risk factor for skin cancer, we investigated the response to a tissue remodeling event in normal skin that is abraded to remove only the epidermal layer in K6/ODC transgenic (follicular ODC expression) and in inducible ODCER transgenic mice (suprabasal ODC expression). When regenerative epidermal hyperplasia was resolved in normal littermates following abrasion, ODC transgenic mice exhibited progressive epidermal hyperplasia with formation of benign tumor growths and maintained an increased epidermal proliferation index and activation of translation-associated proteins at abrasion sites. The epidermal hyperplasia and tumor-like growth was accompanied by activation of underlying stromal cells and prolonged infiltration of inflammatory cells. Treatment with the anti-inflammatory agent dexamethasone did not reduce the high proliferative index in the regenerated epidermis but dramatically reduced the epidermal hyperplasia and prevented the wound-induced tumor growths in abraded ODCER skin. Treatment with α-difluoromethylornithine, a specific inhibitor of ODC activity, normalized the wound response in transgenic mice and decreased wound-induced inflammation if administered from the time of abrasion but not if initiated 4 days following abrasion. These results suggest a role for polyamines in prolonging wound-associated inflammation in addition to stimulating proliferation both of which are sufficient to sustain epidermal hyperplasia and benign tumor growth even in the absence of genetic damage

Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape

Abstract: Species‐specific responses to landscape configuration and landscape composition have been studied extensively. However, little work has been done to compare intraspecific differences in habitat preferences. Bats have potential as good bioindicator taxa in woodland habitats. Therefore, studying sex differences in responses to woodland and the wider landscape can allow us to gain insight into the relative importance of these habitats for both bats and other taxa. In this study, we aimed to test the predictions that (i) habitat type and connectivity will influence the probability of recording female bats in woodlands and (ii) sex differences in response to habitat type and connectivity will be species‐specific. Bat capture data was collected in 206 woodlands over 3 years in England. The probability of detecting females relative to males was modeled in response to a range of woodland characteristics and landscape metrics for six bat species. We recorded sex differences in responses to landscape features in three species. We found a higher probability of capturing female Myotis nattereri in woodlands that were surrounded by a higher proportion of improved grasslands, whereas female Myotis mystacinus were less likely to be recorded in woodlands surrounded by semi‐natural vegetation. Female Plecotus auritus were more likely to be recorded in isolated woodlands with less connectivity to other woodlands and where agriculture dominated the surrounding landscape. Our findings indicate that sexual segregation occurs across several UK bat species in response to landscape connectivity and composition. Sexual segregation in response to landscape characteristics in bats should therefore be an important consideration in the management of fragmented agricultural landscapes

Developing a community facilitator-led participatory learning and action women's group intervention to improve infant feeding, care and dental hygiene practices in South Asian infants: NEON programme

INTRODUCTION: The Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) study is a multiphase project that aims to optimize feeding, care and dental hygiene practices in South Asian children <2 years in East London, United Kingdom. The multiphase project uses a participatory learning and action (PLA) approach facilitated by a multilingual community facilitator. In this paper, we elaborate on the process and results of the Intervention Development Phase in the context of the wider NEON programme. METHODS: Qualitative community-based participatory intervention codevelopment and adaptation. SETTING: Community centres in East London and online (Zoom) meetings and workshops. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 32 participants registered to participate in the Intervention Development Phase. Four Intervention Development workshops were held, attended by 25, 17, 20 and 20 participants, respectively. RESULTS: Collaboratively, a culturally sensitive NEON intervention package was developed consisting of (1) PLA group facilitator manual, (2) picture cards detailing recommended and nonrecommended feeding, care and dental hygiene practices with facilitators/barriers to uptake as well as solutions to address these, (3) healthy infant cultural recipes, (4) participatory Community Asset Maps and (5) list of resources and services supporting infant feeding, care and dental hygiene practices. CONCLUSION: The Intervention Development Phase of the NEON programme demonstrates the value of a collaborative approach between researchers, community facilitators and the target population when developing public health interventions. We recommend that interventions to promote infant feeding, care and dental hygiene practices should be codeveloped with communities. Recognizing and taking into account both social and cultural norms may be of particular value for infants from ethnically diverse communities to develop interventions that are both effective in and accepted by these communities. PATIENT AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT: Considerable efforts were placed on Patient/Participant and Public Involvement and Engagement. Five community facilitators were identified, each of which represented one ethnic/language group: (i) Bangladeshi/Bengali and Sylheti, (ii) Pakistani/Urdu, (iii) Indian/Gujrati, (iv) Indian/Punjabi and (v) Sri Lankan/Tamil. The community facilitators were engaged in every step of the study, from the initial drafting of the protocol and study design to the Intervention Development and refinement of the NEON toolkit, as well as the publication and dissemination of the study findings. More specifically, their role in the Intervention Development Phase of the NEON programme was to: 1. Support the development of the study protocol, information sheets and ethics application. 2. Ensure any documents intended for community members are clear, appropriate and sensitively worded. 3. Develop strategies to troubleshoot any logistical challenges of project delivery, for example, recruitment shortfalls. 4. Contribute to the writing of academic papers, in particular reviewing and revising drafts. 5. Develop plain language summaries and assist in dissemination activities, for example, updates on relevant websites. 6. Contribute to the development of the NEON intervention toolkit and recruitment of the community members. 7. Attend and contribute to Intervention Development workshops, ensuring the participant's voices were the focus of the discussion and workshop outcomes

Phase 1 Safety and Immunogenicity Evaluation of ADMVA, a Multigenic, Modified Vaccinia Ankara-HIV-1 B'/C Candidate Vaccine

in a modified vaccinia Ankara viral vector. Sequences were derived from a prevalent circulating HIV-1 recombinant form in Yunnan, China, an area of high HIV incidence. The objective was to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of ADMVA in human volunteers.. Two volunteers mounted antibodies that were able to neutralize clade-matched viruses.ADMVA was well-tolerated and elicited durable humoral and cellular immune responses

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Online community engagement in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Barts Charit

Phase 1 Safety and Immunogenicity Evaluation of ADVAX, a Multigenic, DNA-Based Clade C/B' HIV-1 Candidate Vaccine

BACKGROUND: We conducted a Phase I dose escalation trial of ADVAX, a DNA-based candidate HIV-1 vaccine expressing Clade C/B' env, gag, pol, nef, and tat genes. Sequences were derived from a prevalent circulating recombinant form in Yunnan, China, an area of high HIV-1 incidence. The objective was to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of ADVAX in human volunteers. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: ADVAX or placebo was administered intramuscularly at months 0, 1 and 3 to 45 healthy volunteers not at high risk for HIV-1. Three dosage levels [0.2 mg (low), 1.0 mg (mid), and 4.0 mg (high)] were tested. Twelve volunteers in each dosage group were assigned to receive ADVAX and three to receive placebo in a double-blind design. Subjects were followed for local and systemic reactogenicity, adverse events, and clinical laboratory parameters. Study follow up was 18 months. Humoral immunogenicity was evaluated by anti-gp120 binding ELISA. Cellular immunogenicity was assessed by a validated IFNgamma ELISpot assay and intracellular cytokine staining. ADVAX was safe and well-tolerated, with no vaccine-related serious adverse events. Local and systemic reactogenicity events were reported by 64% and 42% of vaccine recipients, respectively. The majority of events were mild. The IFNgamma ELISpot response rates to any HIV antigen were 0/9 (0%) in the placebo group, 3/12 (25%) in the low-dosage group, 4/12 (33%) in the mid-dosage group, and 2/12 (17%) in the high-dosage group. Overall, responses were generally transient and occurred to each gene product, although volunteers responded to single antigens only. Binding antibodies to gp120 were not detected in any volunteers, and HIV seroconversion did not occur. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: ADVAX delivered intramuscularly is safe, well-tolerated, and elicits modest but transient cellular immune responses. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00249106.published_or_final_versio