The effect of an internet option and single-sided printing format to increase the response rate to a population-based study : a randomized controlled trial

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Institute of Applied Health Sciences (IAHS) at the University of Aberdeen for funding the PhD studentship of EF. Furthermore, we would like to thank everyone who was involved in the study, including Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie (Director of Public Health, NHS Grampian), John Lemon (University of Aberdeen), Dr. Fiona Garton (University of Aberdeen) and the Aberdeen Service User Group. Lastly, we would like to acknowledge all data entry clerks (Maxx Livingstone, Rory Macfarlane, Georgia Mannion-Krase and Hazel Reilly) and participants of the study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The prevalence of fibromyalgia in the general population : A comparison of the American College of Rheumatology 1990, 2010 and modified 2010 classification criteria

Copyright © 2014 American College of Rheumatology. Funded by University of Aberdeen Development TrustPeer reviewedPostprin

Involvement in data initiatives

Summer 2021. #NhsDataGrab is trending on Twitter and over a million people opt out of NHS data-sharing in one month in a backlash against a government plan: General Practice Data for Planning and Research. The scheme proposes that GP anonymised health data for everyone in England will be made available to researchers and companies for healthcare research and planning. The plan is now on hold, much to the dismay of data scientists who believe that data saves lives. It has been suggested that greater public participation around the sharing of health data will help to alleviate public concerns, and may prevent more members of the public opting out. Health data initiatives have involved members of the public in different ways, from “citizen juries” to public panels and advisory boards. Using ethnographically-informed qualitative case studies, this project takes a closer look at involvement approaches in different data sharing initiatives. The case studies include: citizen juries that asked jurors to consider different real-world data initiatives; a public panel set up by a regional databank that carries out data linking; and an advisory board of members of the public at a national data institution. I have carried out observations of the involvement activities, and conducted semi-structured 1:1 interviews with those who organise and have taken part in the activities. I have recently completed data collection, with analysis ongoing. The analysis is thematic and primarily inductive, using principles of grounded theory and drawing on Silverman’s constant comparative method. Key themes, patterns, and variations are currently being noted and developed. Current areas of interest include: epistemic or democratic reasoning for activities; the roles that the different actors play in participation and how contributors are changed by their involvement

Sketch-bridging the past and present to craft the future:Reflecting on the archaeology and heritage of Roman Scotland through creative storytelling

The aim of this article is to apply and reflect upon a responsive methodology to better connect interpretation processes that are typically considered as falling within either archaeology or heritage. In 2020, the authors were awarded a Research Workshops grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), for the project Narratives of Roman Scotland in the Digital Age. The project, which was developed in 2021–2022, brought together archaeologists, heritage practitioners, and local community organizations to discuss current research on the Roman presence in Scotland and its contemporary legacies. This seemed an ideal opportunity for interrogating how knowledge of the Roman past is produced within archaeological research in Scotland, and how such information impacts and is impacted by the lives of the communities who reside, work, and play in these places

Researching heritage values in social media environments:Understanding variabilities and (in)visibilities

This article adopts a reflexive methodology, called rapid logging, to examine how heritage values relating to the same heritage ‘thing’ are variously crafted by the mutual agencies of human and non-human actors on and with social media. In the process, it also explores the (in)visibilities produced through the heritage value assemblages co-curated by researchers with other actors including social media platforms and data, past objects, places and practices. The analysis focuses on the values associated with a specific case study, the area once occupied by the Old Gas Works, in North Canongate, Edinburgh, UK. Our conclusions demonstrate the importance of multi-platform and reflexive research to develop contextual and critical understandings of heritage value assemblages that can lead to fairer decision-making in heritage and more just societies

Biofilms formed by Candida albicans bloodstream isolates display phenotypic and transcriptional heterogeneity that are associated with resistance and pathogenicity

Background: Candida albicans infections have become increasingly recognised as being biofilm related. Recent studies have shown that there is a relationship between biofilm formation and poor clinical outcomes in patients infected with biofilm proficient strains. Here we have investigated a panel of clinical isolates in an attempt to evaluate their phenotypic and transcriptional properties in an attempt to differentiate and define levels of biofilm formation.<p></p> Results: Biofilm formation was shown to be heterogeneous; with isolates being defined as either high or low biofilm formers (LBF and HBF) based on different biomass quantification. These categories could also be differentiated using a cell surface hydrophobicity assay with 24 h biofilms. HBF isolates were more resistance to amphotericin B (AMB) treatment than LBF, but not voriconazole (VRZ). In a Galleria mellonella model of infection HBF mortality was significantly increased in comparison to LBF. Histological analysis of the HBF showed hyphal elements intertwined indicative of the biofilm phenotype. Transcriptional analysis of 23 genes implicated in biofilm formation showed no significant differential expression profiles between LBF and HBF, except for Cdr1 at 4 and 24 h. Cluster analysis showed similar patterns of expression for different functional classes of genes, though correlation analysis of the 4 h biofilms with overall biomass at 24 h showed that 7 genes were correlated with high levels of biofilm, including Als3, Eap1, Cph1, Sap5, Plb1, Cdr1 and Zap1.<p></p> Conclusions: Our findings show that biofilm formation is variable amongst C. albicans isolates, and categorising isolates depending on this can be used to predict how pathogenic the isolate will behave clinically. We have shown that looking at individual genes in less informative than looking at multiple genes when trying to categorise isolates at LBF or HBF. These findings are important when developing biofilm-specific diagnostics as these could be used to predict how best to treat patients infected with C. albicans. Further studies are required to evaluate this clinically.<p></p&gt

Evidence of high bed net usage from a list randomization experiments in rural Gambia.

Label: BACKGROUND NlmCategory: BACKGROUND content: Recording behaviours that have the potential to impact health can be doubly challenging if the behaviour takes place in private spaces that cannot be observed directly, and where respondents answer what they think the recorder may want to hear. Sleeping under a long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) is an important intervention for malaria prevention, yet it is difficult to gauge the extent to which coverage (how many nets are in the community) differs from usage (how many people actually sleep under a net). List randomization, a novel method which partially obscures respondents' answers to sensitive questions, was employed to estimate LLIN usage in The Gambia. - Label: METHODS NlmCategory: METHODS content: "802 heads-of-household from 15 villages were recruited into a randomized controlled trial assessing the effect of a housing intervention on malaria. These houses were randomly assigned to a housing intervention versus control, with stratification by village so as to ensure balance between arms. From these, 125 households (63 intervention, 52 control) were randomly selected for participation in the list randomization experiment, along with 68 households from the same villages but which were not part of the housing improvement study, resulting in a total of 196 households for the list randomization experiment. Approximately half (n\xE2\x80\x89=\xE2\x80\x8997) of the 196 study participants were randomly assigned to the control group and received a four-question list about non-sensitive behaviours; the intervention group (n\xE2\x80\x89=\xE2\x80\x8999) received the same list, with the addition of one question on a sensitive behaviour: whether or not they had used a bed net the previous night. Participants were read the list of questions and then said how many of the statements were true. Bed net usage was estimated by calculating the difference in means between the number of affirmative responses between the two groups." - Label: RESULTS NlmCategory: RESULTS content: The mean number of affirmative responses in the control group was 2.60 of four statements (95% confidence interval, 95% CI 2.50-2.70), compared with 3.68 (95% CI 3.59-3.78) in the intervention group. Such difference (1.08; 95% CI 94.9-100%) suggests near universal bed net usage. - Label: CONCLUSIONS NlmCategory: CONCLUSIONS content: Bed net usage by household heads in these rural villages was found to be high. Though not entirely unexpected given other studies' estimates of high bed net usage in the area, the list randomization method should be further validated in an area with lower coverage

Trichomonas vaginalis: Diagnosis and Clinical Characteristics in Pregnancy

Objective: The objectives of this study were to 1) determine the prevalance and characterize the symptomatology of Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) infection in pregnant women on entry into prenatal care in an inner-city population; 2) compare conventional microscopic methods vs. culture techniques in diagnosing TV in both symptomatic and asymptomatic pregnant patients; and 3) correlate wet mount microscopic and microbiologic characteristics of varying manifestations of trichomoniasis

Gravitational waves from self-ordering scalar fields

Gravitational waves were copiously produced in the early Universe whenever the processes taking place were sufficiently violent. The spectra of several of these gravitational wave backgrounds on subhorizon scales have been extensively studied in the literature. In this paper we analyze the shape and amplitude of the gravitational wave spectrum on scales which are superhorizon at the time of production. Such gravitational waves are expected from the self ordering of randomly oriented scalar fields which can be present during a thermal phase transition or during preheating after hybrid inflation. We find that, if the gravitational wave source acts only during a small fraction of the Hubble time, the gravitational wave spectrum at frequencies lower than the expansion rate at the time of production behaves as $\Omega_{\rm GW}(f) \propto f^3$ with an amplitude much too small to be observable by gravitational wave observatories like LIGO, LISA or BBO. On the other hand, if the source is active for a much longer time, until a given mode which is initially superhorizon ($k\eta_* \ll 1$), enters the horizon, for $k\eta \gtrsim 1$, we find that the gravitational wave energy density is frequency independent, i.e. scale invariant. Moreover, its amplitude for a GUT scale scenario turns out to be within the range and sensitivity of BBO and marginally detectable by LIGO and LISA. This new gravitational wave background can compete with the one generated during inflation, and distinguishing both may require extra information.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, added discussion about numerical integration and a new figure to illustrate the scale-invariance of the GW power spectrum, conclusions unchange