Generation ZX(X)

This document discusses the design and development of Generation ZX(X), a hybrid multi-media event which explored how video games and performance can enhance and complement one another and enliven different types of historical data: oral herstories, lived experience, collective memory and audio-video archives.Generation ZX(X) was a hybrid of live and virtual components: an audiowalk, a social play session (3 video games were developed and played in a pop-up arcade), a film projection and a musical performance. For Generation ZX(X), I worked with third year Games and Art students and staff from Abertay University. The event took place on the 4th May 2018, in Camperdown Park, and at the JTC Furniture Group – the former Timex Camperdown factory. The event was developed as part of Mona Bozdog’s SGSAH ARCS (Applied Research Collaborative Studentship) PhD - Playing with Performance/ Performing Play. Creating hybrid experiences at the fringes of video games and performance.The project engaged with the living memory and heritage of the Timex factory in Dundee, and its aim was to reclaim and rewrite the history of the charged site on Harrison Road and to challenge the ‘official’ history of the local games industry. The project explored the hidden figures of the video games industry: the women who assembled the ZX Spectrum computers in the Timex factory in Dundee, and the ramifications that this labour had for the city’s development as one of UK’s leading games development and education centres. <br/

Developing Employment Environments Where Individuals with ASD Thrive: Using Machine Learning to Explore Employer Policies and Practices

An online survey instrument was developed to assess employers’ perspectives on hiring job candidates with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The investigators used K-means clustering to categorize companies in clusters based on their hiring practices related to individuals with ASD. This methodology allowed the investigators to assess and compare the various factors of businesses that successfully hire employees with ASD versus those that do not. The cluster analysis indicated that company structures, policies and practices, and perceptions, as well as the needs of employers and employees, were important in determining who would successfully hire individuals with ASD. Key areas that require focused policies and practices include recruitment and hiring, training, accessibility and accommodations, and retention and advancement

Persistence and Effectiveness of Non-Biologic Systemic Therapies for Moderate-Severe Psoriasis in Adults: a Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: The persistence and effectiveness of systemic therapies for moderate-to-severe psoriasis in current clinical practice are poorly characterized. OBJECTIVES: To systematically review observational studies investigating the persistence and effectiveness of acitretin, ciclosporin, fumaric acid esters (FAE) and methotrexate, involving at least 100 adult patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, exposed to therapy for ≥ 3 months. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library and PubMed were searched from 1 January 2007 to 1 November 2017 for observational studies reporting on persistence (therapy duration or the proportion of patients discontinuing therapy during follow-up) or effectiveness [improvements in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) or Physician's Global Assessment (PGA)]. This review was registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42018099771. RESULTS: Of 411 identified studies, eight involving 4624 patients with psoriasis were included. Variations in the definitions and analyses of persistence and effectiveness outcomes prevented a meta-analysis from being conducted. One prospective multicentre study reported drug survival probabilities of 23% (ciclosporin), 42% (acitretin) and 50% (methotrexate) at 1 year. Effectiveness outcomes were not reported for either acitretin or ciclosporin. The persistence and effectiveness of FAE and methotrexate were better characterized, but mean discontinuation times ranged from 28 to 50 months for FAE and 7·7 to 22·3 months for methotrexate. At 12 months of follow-up, three studies reported that 76% (FAE), 53% (methotrexate) and 59% (methotrexate) of patients achieved ≥ 75% reduction in PASI, and one reported that 76% of FAE-exposed patients achieved a markedly improved or clear PGA. CONCLUSIONS: The comparative persistence and effectiveness of acitretin, ciclosporin, FAE and methotrexate in real-world clinical practice in the past decade cannot be well described due to the inconsistency of the methods used

More, please, for those with less: why we need to go further on the Universal Credit uplift

Members of the ‘COVID-19 and low-income families: researching together’ Special Interest Group of the COVID Realities project explain why the government must go further in its provision of financial support for families with children in the light of the coronavirus crisis

Study protocol: The Intensive Care Outcome Network ('ICON') study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Extended follow-up of survivors of ICU treatment has shown many patients suffer long-term physical and psychological consequences that affect their health-related quality of life. The current lack of rigorous longitudinal studies means that the true prevalence of these physical and psychological problems remains undetermined.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The ICON (Intensive Care Outcome Network) study is a multi-centre, longitudinal study of survivors of critical illness. Patients will be recruited prior to hospital discharge from 20–30 ICUs in the UK and will be assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months following ICU discharge for health-related quality of life as measured by the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and the EuroQoL (EQ-5D); anxiety and depression as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms as measured by the PTSD Civilian Checklist (PCL-C). Postal questionnaires will be used.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The ICON study will create a valuable UK database detailing the prevalence of physical and psychological morbidity experienced by patients as they recover from critical illness. Knowledge of the prevalence of physical and psychological morbidity in ICU survivors is important because research to generate models of causality, prognosis and treatment effects is dependent on accurate determination of prevalence. The results will also inform economic modelling of the long-term burden of critical illness.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ISRCTN69112866</p

Using Real-World Data to Guide Ustekinumab Dosing Strategies for Psoriasis: A Prospective Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Study.

Variation in response to biologic therapy for inflammatory diseases, such as psoriasis, is partly driven by variation in drug exposure. Real-world psoriasis data were used to develop a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model for the first-line therapeutic antibody ustekinumab. The impact of differing dosing strategies on response was explored. Data were collected from a UK prospective multicenter observational cohort (491 patients on ustekinumab monotherapy, drug levels, and anti-drug antibody measurements on 797 serum samples, 1,590 measurements of Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI)). Ustekinumab PKs were described with a linear one-compartment model. A maximum effect (Emax ) model inhibited progression of psoriatic skin lesions in the turnover PD mechanism describing PASI evolution while on treatment. A mixture model on half-maximal effective concentration identified a potential nonresponder group, with simulations suggesting that, in future, the model could be incorporated into a Bayesian therapeutic drug monitoring "dashboard" to individualize dosing and improve treatment outcomes

Intentional and unintentional medication non-adherence in psoriasis: The role of patients’ medication beliefs and habit strength

Medication non-adherence is a missed opportunity for therapeutic benefit. We assessed “real-world” levels of self-reported non-adherence to conventional and biologic systemic therapies used for psoriasis and evaluated psychological and biomedical factors associated with non-adherence using multivariable analyses. Latent profile analysis was used to investigate whether patients can be categorized into groups with similar medication beliefs. Latent profile analysis categorizes individuals with similar profiles on a set of continuous variables into discrete groups represented by a categorical latent variable. Eight hundred and eleven patients enrolled in the British Association of Dermatologists Biologic Interventions Register were included. Six hundred and seventeen patients were using a self-administered systemic therapy; 22.4% were classified as “non-adherent” (12% intentionally and 10.9% unintentionally). Patients using an oral conventional systemic agent were more likely to be non-adherent compared to those using etanercept or adalimumab (29.2% vs. 16.4%; P ≤ 0.001). Latent profile analysis supported a three-group model; all groups held strong beliefs about their need for systemic therapy but differed in levels of medication concerns. Group 1 (26.4% of the sample) reported the strongest concerns, followed by Group 2 (61%), with Group 3 (12.6%) reporting the weakest concerns. Group 1 membership was associated with intentional non-adherence (odds ratio = 2.27, 95% confidence interval = 1.16−4.47) and weaker medication-taking routine or habit strength was associated with unintentional non-adherence (odds ratio = 0.92, 95% confidence interval = 0.89−0.96). Medication beliefs and habit strength are modifiable targets for strategies to improve adherence in psoriasis