Share and share alike: Encouraging the reuse of academic resources through the Scottish electronic staff development library

This paper reports on the findings of a consultancy procedure conducted within the Scottish Higher Education staff development community and focusing on the reuse and sharing of communications and information technology resources for teaching and learning. While this consultancy was conducted primarily to inform the development of the Scottish electronic Staff Development Library (SeSDL), its findings, will be of relevance to colleagues working in the fields of staff development and C&IT and all those involved in the creation of shared teaching and learning resources. The consultancy identified general staff development demands, specific pedagogical requirements, and concerns relating to the provision, reuse and sharing of staff development resources. The SeSDL Project will attempt to address these demands through the development of a Web‐based resource centre, which will facilitate the reuse and sharing of high‐quality staff development resources. Library materials are stored in the form of granules which are branded with IMS compatible metadata and which are classified using a controlled educational taxonomy. Staff developers will be able to assemble these granular components to build customized lessons tailored to meet the needs of their own departments and institutions

Modifications to the delivery of NHS face-to-face general practice consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic in England

Background: In order to minimise transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, delivery of English general practice consultations was modified in March 2020 to enable the separation of patients with diagnosed or suspected COVID-19 from others. Remote triage and consultations became the default, with adapted face-to-face contact used only when clinically necessary. Face-to-face delivery modifications were decided locally and this study aimed to identify the different models used nationwide in spring/summer 2020. Methods: In June 2020, a survey was sent by email to the 135 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) responsible for planning and commissioning NHS health care services in England to identify the local organisation of face-to-face general practice consultations since March 2020. Results: All CCGs responded. Between March and July 2020, separation of patients with diagnosed or suspected COVID-19 (‘COVID-19 patients’) from others was achieved using the following models: zoned practices (used within 47% of CCGs), where COVID-19 and other patients were separated within their own practice; ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ hubs (used within 90% of CCGs), separate sites where COVID-19 or other patients registered at one of several collaborating practices were seen; ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ home visits (used within 70% of CCGs). For around half of CCGs, either all their GP practices used zoning, or all used hubs; in other CCGs, both models were used. Demand-led hub availability offered flexibility in some areas. Home visits were mainly used supplementally for patients unable to access other services, but in two CCGs, they were the main/only form of COVID-19 provision.  Conclusions: Varied, flexible ways of delivering face-to-face general practice consultations were identified.  Analysis of the modified delivery in terms of management of COVID-19 and other conditions, and other impacts on staff and patients, may both aid future pandemic management and identify beneficial elements for practice beyond this

A pilot study of the Mistletoe and Breast Cancer (MAB) trial:a protocol for a randomised double-blind controlled trial

BACKGROUND: A Cochrane review of mistletoe therapy concludes that there is some evidence that mistletoe extracts may offer benefits on measures of quality of life during chemotherapy for breast cancer, but these results need replication. Our aim is to add to this evidence base by initially testing the feasibility of a UK pilot placebo-controlled, double-blind randomised controlled trial of mistletoe therapy in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. METHODS/DESIGN: A mixed phase pilot placebo-controlled, double-blind randomised controlled trial of mistletoe therapy in patients with breast cancer (EudraCT number: 2018-000279-34). There will be three arms (groups) in the trial: Iscador M, Iscador P, with physiological saline as the placebo. The aim is to recruit 45 adult patients with a new diagnosis of early or locally advanced breast cancer, up to 12 weeks following definitive breast surgery whose standard treatment plan includes chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. They will be taught to administer the mistletoe and breast cancer (MAB) therapies subcutaneously. MAB therapy will continue throughout their standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy and 1 month beyond. The main outcome of the MAB study is the feasibility of conducting such a trial within the NHS in order to inform a future fully powered investigative trial. Feasibility will be measured through recruitment, retention and patient experience using clinical research forms, patient diaries, cancer-related questionnaires and qualitative interviews conducted with both patients and oncology staff. DISCUSSION: This trial is the first of its kind in the UK. Currently, mistletoe therapy is mostly available through private practice in the UK. Completion of this feasibility study will support applications for further funding for a fully powered randomised controlled trial which will measure effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this herbal therapy

Validation of the olfactory disorders questionnaire for English‐speaking patients with olfactory disorders

Objectives 1. To adapt the existing German language olfactory disorders questionnaire for use with English-speaking patients 2. To validate the adapted version for routine clinical use Design The translated version of the original German questionnaire was revised with a patient and a clinician to reflect British language and culture. Patients attending an olfactory dysfunction clinic were recruited to perform the adapted questionnaire on two occasions at least one month apart. Additional online participants completed the questionnaire via the charity Fifth Sense. Main outcome measures • Re-test reliability of the English olfactory disorders questionnaire (eODQ) in affected patients including potential for redundancy in any of the included questions • Correlation of eODQ scores with Sniffin’ Sticks scores Results Eighty-seven patients reporting olfactory dysfunction were recruited and had a mean age of 48 with 35% of them being male; 50 datasets were available for analysis. A total of 957 members of the charity entered responses into the online questionnaire; 699 responses could be scored with participants’ mean age of 55 years and with 69% reporting as female. The eODQ score and Sniffin’ Sticks TDI score at timepoint 1 were correlated to assess for concurrent validity, (r=-0.15, p=0.17) and showed no significant correlation. Female participants had a significantly higher mean total eODQ score than men, 55.75 compared to 52.28 (p=0.001). The average score was 54.7 (SD 13.5) with a range from 26 to 87. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was good with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90 (Confidence intervals 0.89, 0.91). Conclusions The results of this study support the use of the eODQ in a native English-speaking population and highlight the different distinctions between “objective” testing of olfaction with the Sniffin’ Sticks test and the patient reported impact of olfactory dysfunction on daily life. These two types of assessment can be easily administered in an outpatient setting and used in the assessment and management of olfactory dysfunction

EMAGE: a spatial database of gene expression patterns during mouse embryo development

EMAGE () is a freely available, curated database of gene expression patterns generated by in situ techniques in the developing mouse embryo. It is unique in that it contains standardized spatial representations of the sites of gene expression for each gene, denoted against a set of virtual reference embryo models. As such, the data can be interrogated in a novel and abstract manner by using space to define a query. Accompanying the spatial representations of gene expression patterns are text descriptions of the sites of expression, which also allows searching of the data by more conventional text-based methods