The pale evidence for treatment of iron-deficiency anaemia in older people

Funding The authors have received funding to carry out a pilot RCT on management of IDA in older people from the Chief Scientist Office, Scotland.Peer reviewedPostprin

Role of protein in healthy ageing

Peer reviewedPostprin

The Ageing Gut-Brain Study : Exploring the role of the gut microbiota in dementia

Alex Johnstone, Alison Donaldson, Karen Scott and Phyo Myint all contributed equally to the writing and preparation of the manuscript. This study is funded by Tenovus Scotland Research Project No. G16‐08 (start 1 June 2017, end date 31 January 2019) and NHS‐Grampian Research and Development Endowment Research Grants Project No: 16/11/043 (start date 1 April 2017, end date 31 January, 2019) and the Scottish government as part of the Strategic Research Programme at the Rowett Institute (start date 1 April 2016–31 March 2021).Peer reviewedPostprin

Care Home Research : Future Challenges and Opportunities

Funding: This research was funded by Tennovus Scotland Research Project No. G16-08 and NHS-Grampian Research and Development Endowment Research Grants Project No: 16/11/043 and Scottish Government as part of the Strategic Research Programme at the Rowett Institute (award 1st April 2016–31st March 2021). Acknowledgments: Achieving the Age-GB study aims is a team effort and the authors gratefully acknowledge the efforts from Grant holders, colleagues & students: Phyo Myint, Karen Scott, Jenny Martin, Roy Soiza, Emma Law, Sandra Mann, Eunice Morgan, Claire Fyfe, Nicola Smith, Mitrysha Kishor.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Variability in the clinical management of iron deficiency anaemia in older adults : results from a survey of UK specialists in the care of older people

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the British Geriatrics Society for hosting the survey link and formally endorsing the survey through its electronic communications. We gratefully acknowledge the participants of the survey. Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The variation in acute and community service provision of care of the elderly services across the Scotland: Findings from the Scottish Care of Older People (SCoOP) National Audit initial scoping survey

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) in raising awareness of this work and the BGS Scotland Council for dissemination of the scoping survey. We also would like to thank Mr Tiberiu Pana, Mr Jesus Perdomo, Dr Maryam Barma and Dr Adrian Wood for their assistance with the project. We would also like to thank the SCoOP Steering Committee Members and Dr Claire Copeland (NHS Forth Valley) for their contribution. The SCoOP Steering Group includes: Dr Louise Beveridge (NHS Tayside), Professor Corri Black (University of Aberdeen), Ms Penny Bond (Healthcare Improvement Scotland), Dr Jennifer Burns (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde), Dr Tony Byrne (NHS Forth Valley), Dr Andrew Coull (NHS Lothian), Dr Alison Donaldson (University of Aberdeen), Dr Alice Einarsson (NHS Grampian), Professor Graham Ellis (NHS Lanarkshire, Glasgow Caledonian University and Co-Chair), Ms Karen Goudie(Healthcare Improvement Scotland) , Dr Graeme Hoyle (NHS Grampian), Dr Allan MacDonald (NHS Highland), Dr Christine McAlpine (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde), Dr Morven McElroy (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde), Professor Phyo Kyaw Myint (University of Aberdeen, Co-Chair), Dr Terence J Quinn (University of Glasgow), Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie (University of Aberdeen), Dr Susan Shenkin (University of Edinburgh), Dr Ralph Thomas (NHS Fife) and Dr Andrew Watt (NHS Ayrshire and Arran).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Influence of socioeconomic deprivation on interventions and outcomes for patients admitted with COVID-19 to critical care units in Scotland: a national cohort study

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to significant respiratory failure with between 14% and 18% of hospitalised patients requiring critical care admission. This study describes the impact of socioeconomic deprivation on 30-day survival following critical care admission for COVID-19, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on critical care capacity in Scotland. Methods: This cohort study used linked national hospital records including ICU, virology testing and national death records to identify and describe patients with COVID-19 admitted to critical care units in Scotland. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the impact of deprivation on 30-day mortality. Critical care capacity was described by reporting the percentage of baseline ICU bed utilisation required. Findings: There were 735 patients with COVID-19 admitted to critical care units across Scotland from 1/3/2020 to 20/6/2020. There was a higher proportion of patients from more deprived areas, with 183 admissions (24.9%) from the most deprived quintile and 100 (13.6%) from the least deprived quintile. Overall, 30-day mortality was 34.8%. After adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity, mortality was significantly higher in patients from the most deprived quintile (OR 1.97, 95%CI 1.13, 3.41, p=0.016). ICUs serving populations with higher levels of deprivation spent a greater amount of time over their baseline ICU bed capacity. Interpretation: Patients with COVID-19 living in areas with greatest socioeconomic deprivation had a higher frequency of critical care admission and a higher adjusted 30-day mortality. ICUs in health boards with higher levels of socioeconomic deprivation had both higher peak occupancy and longer duration of occupancy over normal maximum capacity. Funding: None

The ATLAS fast tracKer system

The ATLAS Fast TracKer (FTK) was designed to provide full tracking for the ATLAS high-level trigger by using pattern recognition based on Associative Memory (AM) chips and fitting in high-speed field programmable gate arrays. The tracks found by the FTK are based on inputs from all modules of the pixel and silicon microstrip trackers. The as-built FTK system and components are described, as is the online software used to control them while running in the ATLAS data acquisition system. Also described is the simulation of the FTK hardware and the optimization of the AM pattern banks. An optimization for long-lived particles with large impact parameter values is included. A test of the FTK system with the data playback facility that allowed the FTK to be commissioned during the shutdown between Run 2 and Run 3 of the LHC is reported. The resulting tracks from part of the FTK system covering a limited η-ϕ region of the detector are compared with the output from the FTK simulation. It is shown that FTK performance is in good agreement with the simulation. © The ATLAS collaboratio

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk

Genome-Wide Association Study in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk

BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7×10-8, HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09-1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4×10-8, HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4×10-8, HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific associat