Spices and perfumes in early medieval globalism and their socio-political effects, 80-494 A.H. /700-1100 A.D.

The aim of this research is to identify and examine the role of perfumes and spices that came from the Indian Ocean trade into the Caliphate, and through there into the Mediterranean trade. This study is a direct challenge to history writing that suggests that globalization happened as a sudden phenomenon after the year 390 A.H./1000 A.D. instead of as a process that occurred gradually over several centuries. This research subscribes to the definition of globalisation as the continuous and ongoing linkages of distant societies in trade, knowledge, and the movement of ‘millions of people from Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia’.1 But with the caveat that this happened prior to the year 1000 A.D. and includes East and South Asia. It is due to the graduality of this process of interconnectivity that meant that there were genuine connections between the Arab traders and those they met. This was what made areas outside of the Caliphate adopt Islamicate culture after a while. The movement of luxury products such a perfumes and spices provided enough incentive in value that communication links had to be made and maintained. The socio-political dynamics and adjustments that were needed to facilitate such links are also a part of this study into the effects of perfumes and spices in early medieval globalism

Public health by organizational fix?

In August 2020 the UK government announced without warning the abolition of Public Health England (PHE), the principal UK agency for the promotion and protection of public health. We undertook a research programme seeking to understand the factors surrounding this decision. While the underlying issues are complex two competing interpretations have emerged: an 'official' explanation, which highlights the failure of PHE to scale up its testing capacity in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic as the fundamental reason for closing it down and a 'sceptical' interpretation, which ascribes the decision to blame-avoidance behaviour on the part of leading government figures. This paper reviews crucial claims in these two competing explanations exploring the arguments for and against each proposition. It concludes that neither is adequate and that the inability adequately to address the problem of testing (which triggered the decision to close PHE) lies deeper in the absence of the norms of responsible government in UK politics and the state. However our findings do provide some guidance to the two new organizations established to replace PHE to maximize their impact on public health. We hope that this information will contribute to the independent national COVID inquiry

Barriers and facilitators of weight bearing after hip fracture surgery among older adults. A scoping review

PURPOSE: This scoping review aimed to synthesise the available evidence on barriers and facilitators of weight bearing after hip fracture surgery in older adults. METHODS: Published (Cochrane Central, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PEDro) and unpublished (Global Health, EThOS, WorldCat dissertation and thesis, ClinicalTrials.gov , OpenAIRE, DART-Europe) evidence was electronically searched from database inception to 29 March 2022. Barriers and facilitators of weight bearing were extracted and synthesised into patient, process (non-surgical), process (surgical), and structure-related barriers/facilitators using a narrative review approach. RESULTS: In total, 5594 were identified from the primary search strategy, 1314 duplicates were removed, 3769 were excluded on title and abstract screening, and 442 were excluded on full-text screening. In total, 69 studies (all from published literature sources) detailing 47 barriers and/or facilitators of weight bearing were included. Of barriers/facilitators identified, 27 were patient-, 8 non-surgical process-, 8 surgical process-, and 4 structure-related. Patient facilitators included anticoagulant, home discharge, and aid at discharge. Barriers included preoperative dementia and delirium, postoperative delirium, pressure sores, indoor falls, ventilator dependence, haematocrit < 36%, systemic sepsis, and acute renal failure. Non-surgical process facilitators included early surgery, early mobilisation, complete medical co-management, in-hospital rehabilitation, and patient-recorded nurses' notes. Barriers included increased operative time and standardised hip fracture care. Surgical process facilitators favoured intramedullary fixations and arthroplasty over extramedullary fixation. Structure facilitators favoured more recent years and different healthcare systems. Barriers included pre-holiday surgery and admissions in the first quarter of the year. CONCLUSION: Most patient/surgery-related barriers/facilitators may inform future risk stratification. Future research should examine additional process/structure barriers and facilitators amenable to intervention. Furthermore, patient barriers/facilitators need to be investigated by replicating the studies identified and augmenting them with more specific details on weight bearing outcomes