Piloting a manualised weight management programme (Shape Up-LD) for overweight and obese persons with mild-moderate learning disabilities: study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial

National obesity rates have dramatically risen over the last decade. Being obese significantly reduces life expectancy, increases the risk of a range of diseases, and compromises quality of life. Costs to both the National Health Service and society are high. An increased prevalence of obesity in people with learning disabilities has been demonstrated. The consequences of obesity are particularly relevant to people with learning disabilities who are already confronted by health and social inequalities. In order to provide healthcare for all, and ensure equality of treatment for people with learning disabilities, services must be developed specifically with this population in mind. The aim of this project is to pilot the evaluation of a manualised weight management programme for overweight and obese persons with mild-moderate learning disabilities (Shape Up-LD)

A manualised weight management programme for adults with mild-moderate intellectual disabilities affected by excess weight: A randomised controlled feasibility trial (Shape Up-LD).

BACKGROUND: The aim was to pilot an adapted manualised weight management programme for persons with mild-moderate intellectual disabilities affected by overweight or obesity ('Shape Up-LD'). METHOD: Adults with intellectual disabilities were enrolled in a 6-month trial (3-month active intervention and 3-month follow-up) and were individually randomised to Shape Up-LD or a usual care control. Feasibility outcomes included recruitment, retention, initial effectiveness and cost. RESULTS: Fifty people were enrolled. Follow-up rates were 78% at 3 months and 74% at 6 months. At 3 and 6 months, controlling for baseline weight, no difference was observed between groups (3 months: β: -0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -2.38, 1.69, 6 months: β: -0.55, 95%CI -4.34, 3.24). CONCLUSION: It may be possible to carry out a trial of Shape Up-LD, although barriers to recruitment, carer engagement and questionnaire completion need to be addressed, alongside refinements to the intervention

A manualised weight management programme for adults with mild–moderate intellectual disabilities affected by excess weight: A randomised controlled feasibility trial (Shape Up-LD)

Background The aim was to pilot an adapted manualised weight management programme for persons with mild–moderate intellectual disabilities affected by overweight or obesity (‘Shape Up-LD’). Method Adults with intellectual disabilities were enrolled in a 6-month trial (3-month active intervention and 3-month follow-up) and were individually randomised to Shape Up-LD or a usual care control. Feasibility outcomes included recruitment, retention, initial effectiveness and cost. Results Fifty people were enrolled. Follow-up rates were 78% at 3 months and 74% at 6 months. At 3 and 6 months, controlling for baseline weight, no difference was observed between groups (3 months: β: −0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −2.38, 1.69, 6 months: β: −0.55, 95%CI −4.34, 3.24). Conclusion It may be possible to carry out a trial of Shape Up-LD, although barriers to recruitment, carer engagement and questionnaire completion need to be addressed, alongside refinements to the intervention

Governance, regulation and financial market instability: the implications for policy

Just as the 1929 Stock Market Crash discredited Classical economic theory and policy and opened the way for Keynesianism, a consequence of the collapse of confidence in financial markets and the banking system—and the effect that this has had on the global macro economy—is currently discrediting the ‘conventional wisdom’ of neo-liberalism. This paper argues that at the heart of the crisis is a breakdown in governance that has its roots in the co-evolution of political and economic developments and of economic theory and policy since the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression that followed. However, while many are looking back to the Great Depression and to the theories and policies that seemed to contribute to recovery during the first part of the twentieth century, we argue that the current context is different from the earlier one; and there are more recent events that may provide better insight into the causes and contributing factors giving rise to the present crisis and to the implications for theory and policy that follow

An update on the ethical, legal, and technical challenges of translating xenotransplantation

This manuscript reports on a landmark symposium on the ethical, legal and technical challenges of xenotransplantation in the UK. King’s College London, with endorsement from the British Transplantation Society (BTS), and the European Society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT), brought together a group of experts in xenotransplantation science, ethics and law to discuss the ethical, regulatory and technical challenges surrounding translating xenotransplantation into the clinical setting. The symposium was the first of its kind in the UK for 20 years. This paper summarises the content of the expert lectures showcasing the progress which has been made in xenotransplantation including—the history of xenotransplantation, advances in gene edited animals and progress towards clinical xenotransplantation. We then set out the ethical and legal issues still to be resolved. Finally, we report the themes of the roundtable discussion highlighting areas of consensus and controversy. While the detail of the legal discussion was directed towards the UK, the principles and summary reported here are intended to be applicable to any jurisdiction seeking to implement clinical xenotransplantation

An update on the ethical, legal, and technical challenges of translating xenotransplantation

This manuscript reports on a landmark symposium on the ethical, legal and technical challenges of xenotransplantation in the UK. King’s College London, with endorsement from the British Transplant Society (BTS), and the European Society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT), brought together a group of experts in xenotransplantation science, ethics, and law to discuss the ethical, regulatory, and technical challenges surrounding translating xenotransplantation into the clinical setting. The symposium was the first of its kind in the UK for 20 years. This paper summarises the content of the expert lectures showcasing the progress which has been made in xenotransplantation including - the history of xenotransplantation, advances in gene edited animals and progress towards clinical xenotransplantation. We then set out the ethical and legal issues still to be resolved. Finally we report the themes of the roundtable discussion highlighting areas of consensus and controversy. While the detail of the legal discussion was directed towards the UK, the principles and summary reported here are intended to be applicable to any jurisdiction seeking to implement clinical xenotransplantation

Non-invasive estimation of relative pressure for intracardiac flows using virtual work-energy

Intracardiac blood flow is driven by differences in relative pressure, and assessing these is critical in understanding cardiac disease. Non-invasive image-based methods exist to assess relative pressure, however, the complex flow and dynamically moving fluid domain of the intracardiac space limits assessment. Recently, we proposed a method, ?WERP, utilizing an auxiliary virtual field to probe relative pressure through complex, and previously inaccessible flow domains. Here we present an extension of ?WERP for intracardiac flow assessments, solving the virtual field over sub-domains to effectively handle the dynamically shifting flow domain. The extended ?WERP is validated in an in-silico benchmark problem, as well as in a patient-specific simulation model of the left heart, proving accurate over ranges of realistic image resolutions and noise levels, as well as superior to alternative approaches. Lastly, the extended ?WERP is applied on clinically acquired 4D Flow MRI data, exhibiting realistic ventricular relative pressure patterns, as well as indicating signs of diastolic dysfunction in an exemplifying patient case. Summarized, the extended ?WERP approach represents a directly applicable implementation for intracardiac flow assessments.Funding agencies: D.M. holds a Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation scholar-ship for postdoctoral studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. M.B. acknowledges funding from King’s College London and Imperical College London ESPRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Medical Imaging (EP/L015226/1). D.N. would like to acknowledge funding from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N011554/1 and EP/R003866/1). P.L. holds a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship (g.a. 209450/Z/17/Z). T.E. would like to acknowledge funding from the Swedish Research Council (2018–04454) and the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation (2018-0657). This work was also supported by the Wellcome ESPRC Centre for Medical Engineering at King’s College London (WT 203148/Z/16/Z) and the British Heart Foundation (TG/17/3/33406). E.R.E. was funded in part by NIH R01 49039.</p