Recruiting people with severe mental illness through community pharmacies:real-world experiences from a UK study

BACKGROUND: Proxy recruitment of patient participants through community pharmacies may be a valuable strategy to maximise participation. This paper focuses on the feasibility of such a recruitment strategy for research involving people who experience severe mental illness. METHODS: Fifty-three community pharmacies, including 50 'Research Ready' pharmacies, were asked to recruit people with severe mental illness for participation in research. Pharmacists were asked to provide participant information to anyone presenting a prescription meeting specific criteria. RESULTS: Thirteen recruitment sites (25%) (from 4 distinct organisations) were approved to recruit patient participants. Eighty-five percent (n = 11) failed to recruit any potential participants. CONCLUSIONS: Proxy recruitment of people with severe mental illness through community pharmacies was challenging with challenges in both pharmacy- and participant-recruitment. Further investigation into supporting community pharmacists' engagement with recruiting patients with SMI as research participants is required

A scoping review on occupational science research in European contexts

Background A survey showed European occupational scientists cover a broad range in occupational science (OS) research, however, no contemporary overviews of European OS research exists, and current research may provide valuable information for OS and occupational therapy. Aim The aim was to provide an overview of contemporary European OS research. Materials and method A scoping review was performed, including studies conducted in Europe and published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy (BJOT), the Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy (SJOT) or the Journal of Occupational Science (JOS) between 2015 and 2020. The journals were systematically searched, and quality assessment and thematic analysis were undertaken. Results Findings from 93 articles identified many studies from the Nordic countries. Most studies applied qualitative research methods. Theoretical concepts from OS were used in data generating and discussions. A wide range of demographics, and living conditions were explored. Recent articles took a reflexive stance on the positionality of the researcher/s. Conclusions This review highlights the diversity of OS research, suggesting a solid theoretical knowledge base within European OS research. Significance The results contribute to further development and maturation of the discipline of OS in Europe and internationally

Is the Armington Elasticity Really Constant across Importers?

This paper shows that the Armington elasticity, which refers to both the elasticity of substitution across goods and the price elasticity of demand under the assumption of a large number of varieties, systematically changes from one importer country to another in an international trade context. Then a natural question to ask is "What determines the Armington elasticity?" The answer comes from the distinction between the elasticity of demand with respect to the destination price (i.e., the Armington elasticity) and the elasticity of demand with respect to the source price. Under additive trade costs, it is shown that the elasticity of demand with respect to the destination price is equal to the sum of the elasticity of demand with respect to the source price and the elasticity of demand with respect to the trade costs. The empirical results using the United States export data at the state level support this relation; hence, it is more likely to have a constant elasticity of demand with respect to the source price rather than a constant Armington elasticity under additive trade costs. In terms of policy implications, the constant Armington elasticity undervalues the effects of a policy change around 3 or 4 times compared to the importer-specific Armington elasticities

A framework for industrial systems modeling and simulation

To successfully compete in a global market, manufacturing production systems are being forced to reduce time to market and to provide improved responsiveness to changes in market conditions. The organizations that comprise the business links in the production system must constantly make tradeoffs between time and cost in order to achieve a competitive but quick response to consumer demand. Due to the inherent uncertainty of consumer demand, these tradeoffs are, by definition, made with incomplete information and can incur significant financial and competitive risk to the organization. Partnerships between organizations are a mechanism for increasing the information in the decision making process by combining information from the two partners. Partnerships are inherently difficult to implement due to trust issues. A mechanism for investigating and validating the mutual benefit to partnering would be useful in designing and implementing partnerships. This paper describes the development of a software framework for industrial systems modeling and simulation. The framework provides a mechanism for investigating changes to industrial systems in a manner which minimizes the effort and computational power needed to develop focused simulations. The architecture and it`s component parts are described

Effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise following hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a systematic review of clinical trials

Background: Physiotherapy has long been a routine component of patient rehabilitation following hip joint replacement. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise after discharge from hospital on function, walking, range of motion, quality of life and muscle strength, for osteoarthritic patients following elective primary total hip arthroplasty. Methods: Design: Systematic review, using the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and the Quorom Statement. Database searches: AMED, CINAHL, EMBASE, KingsFund, MEDLINE, Cochrane library (Cochrane reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, DARE), PEDro, The Department of Health National Research Register. Handsearches: Physiotherapy, Physical Therapy, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Britain) Conference Proceedings. No language restrictions were applied. Selection: Trials comparing physiotherapy exercise versus usual/standard care, or comparing two types of relevant exercise physiotherapy, following discharge from hospital after elective primary total hip replacement for osteoarthritis were reviewed. Outcomes: Functional activities of daily living, walking, quality of life, muscle strength and range of hip joint motion. Trial quality was extensively evaluated. Narrative synthesis plus meta-analytic summaries were performed to summarise the data. Results: 8 trials were identified. Trial quality was mixed. Generally poor trial quality, quantity and diversity prevented explanatory meta-analyses. The results were synthesised and meta-analytic summaries were used where possible to provide a formal summary of results. Results indicate that physiotherapy exercise after discharge following total hip replacement has the potential to benefit patients. Conclusion: Insufficient evidence exists to establish the effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise following primary hip replacement for osteoarthritis. Further well designed trials are required to determine the value of post discharge exercise following this increasingly common surgical procedure

Rare association of Visceral leishmaniasis with Hodgkin's disease: A case report

We present here a case of young male with complaints of fever and swelling in the neck for eight months. History of progressive weakness associated with weight loss was present. Physical examination revealed pallor, multiple enlarged cervical lymph nodes and hepatosplenomegaly. Investigations showed pancytopenia, hyperglobinemia and Leishman-Donovan bodies on bone marrow aspiration. Serological test confirmed diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. However, cervical lymph node aspiration and biopsy were suggestive of Mixed cellularity Hodgkin's disease. This made it a very rare case of Leishmaniasis as an opportunistic infection in a patient of pre-chemotherapy Hodgkin's disease. There was marked improvement in haematological profile and regression of hepatosplenomegaly with Amphotericin B treatment followed by favourable response to chemotherapy. The case emphasizes the suspicion for leishmaniasis as a masquerader and as an opportunistic infection in haematological malignancies