Exploring ethnic inequalities in health: Evidence from the Health Survey for England, 1998-2011

Issues of social justice and social and spatial inequalities in health have long been researched, yet there is a relative paucity of research on ethnic inequalities in health. Given the increasing ethnic diversity of England's population and the persistence of unjust differences in health this research is timely. We used annual data from the Health Survey for England between 1998 and 2011, combined into a time-series dataset, to examine the influence of socioeconomic and spatial factors on ethnic variations in health and to explore whether inequalities have changed over time. Our analysis reveals that ethnic differences in health are largely rooted in socioeconomic or spatial difference, although variations by health outcome are observed. This work builds on existing literature which looks to socioeconomic and spatial difference for explanations of ethnic inequalities in health, rather than any supposed inherent underlying risk of poor health for minority ethnic groups

Selective migration and changing health / deprivation relationships

Background: • Changes in self-reported health; • Who has thought about this before? • Health-deprivation-migration inter-relationships; • N.B. Sub-national migration; • International literature ‘Healthy migrant effect’; • Using ONS Longitudinal Study. For the population as a whole: • How changes affect health levels in deprivation extremes; • Overall health deprivation relationship changes. Some more angles: • Is this the same for different ethnic groups? • Is this the same by age

Comparing cost-effectiveness of surface water flood management interventions in a UK catchment

This is the final published version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Despite significant consequences caused by recent events, surface water flooding has historically been of lower priority relative to fluvial and coastal risks in UK flood management. Legislation and research proposes a variety of innovative interventions to address this; however, widespread application of these remains a challenge due to a number of institutional, economic, and technical barriers. This research applies a framework capable of fast and high-resolution assessment of intervention cost-effectiveness as an opportunity to improve available evidence and encourage uptake of interventions through analysing permutations of type, scale, and distribution in urban catchments. Fast assessment of many scenarios is achieved using a cellular automata flood model and a simplified representation of interventions. Conventional and green strategies are examined across a range of design standard and high-magnitude rainfall events in an urban catchment. Results indicate high-volume rainwater capture interventions demonstrate a significant reduction in estimated annual damage costs, and localised surface water drainage interventions exhibit high cost-effectiveness for damage reduction. Analysis of performance across a wide range of return periods enhances available evidence for option comparison decision support and provides a basis for future resilience assessment of interventions.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Cardiac Screening of Young Athletes: a Practical Approach to Sudden Cardiac Death Prevention.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We aim to report on the current status of cardiovascular screening of athletes worldwide and review the up-to-date evidence for its efficacy in reducing sudden cardiac death in young athletes. RECENT FINDINGS: A large proportion of sudden cardiac death in young individuals and athletes occurs during rest with sudden arrhythmic death syndrome being recognised as the leading cause. The international recommendations for ECG interpretation have reduced the false-positive ECG rate to 3% and reduced the cost of screening by 25% without compromising the sensitivity to identify serious disease. There are some quality control issues that have been recently identified including the necessity for further training to guide physicians involved in screening young athletes. Improvements in our understanding of young sudden cardiac death and ECG interpretation guideline modification to further differentiate physiological ECG patterns from those that may represent underlying disease have significantly improved the efficacy of screening to levels that may make screening more attractive and feasible to sporting organisations as a complementary strategy to increased availability of automated external defibrillators to reduce the overall burden of young sudden cardiac death

Do schools differ in suicide risk? the influence of school and neighbourhood on attempted suicide, suicidal ideation and self-harm among secondary school pupils

<br>Background: Rates of suicide and poor mental health are high in environments (neighbourhoods and institutions) where individuals have only weak social ties, feel socially disconnected and experience anomie - a mismatch between individual and community norms and values. Young people spend much of their time within the school environment, but the influence of school context (school connectedness, ethos and contextual factors such as school size or denomination) on suicide-risk is understudied. Our aim is to explore if school context is associated with rates of attempted suicide and suicide-risk at age 15 and self-harm at age 19, adjusting for confounders.</br> <br>Methods: A longitudinal school-based survey of 1698 young people surveyed when aged 11, (primary school), 15 (secondary school) and in early adulthood (age 19). Participants provided data about attempted suicide and suicide-risk at age 15 and deliberate self-harm at 19. In addition, data were collected about mental health at age 11, social background (gender, religion, etc.), and at age 15, perception of local area (e.g. neighbourhood cohesion, safety/civility and facilities), school connectedness (school engagement, involvement, etc.) and school context (size, denomination, etc.). A dummy variable was created indicating a religious 'mismatch', where pupils held a different faith from their school denomination. Data were analysed using multilevel logistic regression.</br> <br>Results: After adjustment for confounders, pupils attempted suicide, suicide-risk and self-harm were all more likely among pupils with low school engagement (15-18% increase in odds for each SD change in engagement). While holding Catholic religious beliefs was protective, attending a Catholic school was a risk factor for suicidal behaviours. This pattern was explained by religious 'mismatch': pupils of a different religion from their school were approximately 2-4 times more likely to attempt suicide, be a suicide-risk or self-harm.</br> <br>Conclusions: With several caveats, we found support for the importance of school context for suicidality and self-harm. School policies promoting school connectedness are uncontroversial. Devising a policy to reduce risks to pupils holding a different faith from that of their school may be more problematic.</br&gt

Communication, Collaboration and Enhancing the Learning Experience: Developing a Collaborative Virtual Enquiry Service in University Libraries in the North of England

This paper uses the case study of developing a collaborative ‘out of hours’ virtual enquiry service by members of the Northern Collaboration Group of academic libraries in the north of England to explore the importance of communication and collaboration between academic library services in enhancing student learning. Set within the context of a rapidly changing UK higher education sector the paper considers the benefits and challenges of collaboration and the contribution of library services to the student experience. The project demonstrated clear benefits to student learning and evidence of value for money to individual institutions as well as showing commitment to national shared services agendas. Effective communication with students, with colleagues and stakeholders in our own and other Northern Collaboration member institutions, and with OCLC, our partner organisation, was a critical success factor in the development, promotion and uptake of the new service

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Charting Disaster Recovery via Google Street View: A Social Science Perspective on Challenges Raised by the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

There is increasing interest in using Google Street View (GSV) for research purposes, particularly with regard to “virtually auditing” the built environment to assess environmental quality. Research in this field to date generally suggests GSV is a reliable means of understanding the “real world” environment. But limitations around the dates and resolution of images have been identified. An emerging strand within this literature is also concerned with the potential of GSV to understand recovery post-disaster. Using the GSV data set for the evacuated area around the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant as a case study, this article evaluates GSV as a means of assessing disaster recovery in a dynamic situation with remaining uncertainty and a significant value and emotive dimension. The article suggests that GSV does have value in giving a high-level overview of the post-disaster situation and has potential to track recovery and resettlement over time. Drawing on social science literature relating to Fukushima, and disasters more widely, the article also argues it is imperative for researchers using GSV to reflect carefully on the wider socio-cultural contexts that are often not represented in the photo montage

Internal Migration, Sport and the Scottish Diaspora in England.

Sport has been argued to play an important role for members of diasporic groups of various origins and in various locations (Burdsey, 2006; Carrington, 2010; Darby and Hassan, 2008; Kaufman, 2005). However, little attention has been paid to the role sport plays for ‘internal migrants’ who migrate to contrasting locations within a nation-state, despite the potential for significant contrasts in the prevailing sporting cultures found in different regions of the same nation-state. This article therefore aims to make a contribution towards understanding this relationship by reflecting upon the role sport plays for members of the Scottish diaspora living in England, drawing upon interviews and personal reflections from a number of Scottish ‘internal migrants’ located within the United Kingdom. In particular, discussion attempts to draw attention to the central role sport plays for these individuals in order to maintain a cultural attachment with their Scottish birthplace, given the relative lack of other cultural practices or associations which could be used to achieve this goal. Comparisons are also drawn with studies of the Scottish diaspora in more distant geographic contexts, as well as similar diasporic groups in the English context such as the Irish diaspora. These comparisons allow for a consideration of the impact of geographic proximity and cultural proximity on the relative importance of sport and other cultural practices for Scots living in England, identifying a number of important issues for those studying the role played by sport in the maintenance of a cultural attachment with ‘home’ for various diasporic groups