The Patient Deficit Model Overturned: a qualitative study of patients' perceptions of invitation to participate in a randomized controlled trial comparing selective bladder preservation against surgery in muscle invasive bladder cancer (SPARE, CRUK/07/011)

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that poor recruitment into clinical trials rests on a patient ‘deficit’ model – an inability to comprehend trial processes. Poor communication has also been cited as a possible barrier to recruitment. A qualitative patient interview study was included within the feasibility stage of a phase III non-inferiority Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) (SPARE, CRUK/07/011) in muscle invasive bladder cancer. The aim was to illuminate problems in the context of randomization. METHODS: The qualitative study used a ‘Framework Analysis’ that included ‘constant comparison’ in which semi-structured interviews are transcribed, analyzed, compared and contrasted both between and within transcripts. Three researchers coded and interpreted data. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients agreed to enter the interview study; 10 decliners of randomization and 14 accepters, of whom 2 subsequently declined their allocated treatment. The main theme applying to the majority of the sample was confusion and ambiguity. There was little indication that confusion directly impacted on decisions to enter the SPARE trial. However, confusion did appear to impact on ethical considerations surrounding ‘informed consent’, as well as cause a sense of alienation between patients and health personnel. Sub-optimal communication in many guises accounted for the confusion, together with the logistical elements of a trial that involved treatment options delivered in a number of geographical locations. CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight the difficulty of providing balanced and clear trial information within the UK health system, despite best intentions. Involvement of multiple professionals can impact on communication processes with patients who are considering participation in RCTs. Our results led us to question the ‘deficit’ model of patient behavior. It is suggested that health professionals might consider facilitating a context in which patients feel fully included in the trial enterprise and potentially consider alternatives to randomization where complex interventions are being tested. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN6112646

ANCA-associated vasculitides-advances in pathogenesis and treatment

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAV) include Wegener granulomatosis, microscopic polyangiitis, Churg-Strauss syndrome and renal-limited vasculitis. This Review highlights the progress that has been made in our understanding of AAV pathogenesis and discusses new developments in the treatment of these diseases. Evidence from clinical studies, and both in vitro and in vivo experiments, supports a pathogenic role for ANCAs in the development of AAV; evidence is stronger for myeloperoxidase-ANCAs than for proteinase-3-ANCAs. Neutrophils, complement and effector T cells are also involved in AAV pathogenesis. With respect to treatment of AAV, glucocorticoids, cyclophosphamide and other conventional therapies are commonly used to induce remission in generalized disease. Pulse intravenous cyclophosphamide is equivalent in efficacy to oral cyclophosphamide but seems to be associated with less adverse effects. Nevertheless, alternatives to cyclophosphamide therapy have been investigated, such as the use of methotrexate as a less-toxic alternative to cyclophosphamide to induce remission in non-organ-threatening or non-life-threatening AAV. Furthermore, rituximab is equally as effective as cyclophosphamide for induction of remission in AAV and might become the standard of therapy in the near future. Controlled trials in which specific immune effector cells and molecules are being therapeutically targeted have been initiated or are currently being planned.RheumatologySCI(E)PubMed51REVIEW11653-664

Border Theory: A New Point of Access into Literature. A border-theoretical reading of China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun, The City and the City and Embassytown

“Border Theory: A New Point of Access into Literature” seeks to explore the use of a border-theoretical approach to literature. Border theories by Johan Schimanski, Stephen Wolfe, David Newman, Homi Bhabha, and a set of different border planes – the symbolic, epistemological, topographic, temporal and textual border plane – provide the scholarly framework for this thesis. Border theory studies the notion of hybridity, diversity and doubling, discusses the border and the change between the visible and invisibility, reviews binary oppositions and goes on to explore how borders can move beyond binaries and create a new space – a third space. The thesis uses three novels by China Miéville to examine border theory: Un Lun Dun (2007), The City and the City (2009) and Embassytown (2011). Miéville is a science fiction writer that introduces the genre of weird fiction. The main idea is that border theory, as its own theoretical point of access into the field of literary studies, can contribute with a new aspect of literary analysis, and that China Miéville’s contemporary weird fiction invites and benefits from a border-theoretical analysis. Border theory creates a new access-point into the theoretical analysis of novels, and further explores and shows how borders are represented in literature. Un Lun Dun presents the reader with a city and its abcity where the border between the two is not easy to see and understand. In addition, the abcity UnLondon is filled with strange spaces and extraordinary characters that give no shortage of borders to explore. The City and the City is a detective story that crosses the border between two sister cities – Besźel and Ul Qoma – with an invisible law enforcement agency operating within the invisible border between the two cities. Embassytown uses language as a barrier and a border between species. Set in the far future, the novel describes and explores complex relations and divisions of space, time and people – and the complications surrounding the inability to communicate. These novels have been chosen because of their borders-inquisitive qualities, and together they can each be read as a piece of the puzzle to a more complex understanding of borders and border crossings – both in literature and in real life. “Border Theory: A New Point of Access into Literature – A border-theoretical reading of China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun, The City and the City and Embassytown” is a thesis with a theoretical approach to contemporary literature – exploring the literary field of border theory