Shaping the future for primary care education and training project. Best practise in education and training strategies for integrated health and social care: development of a benchmarking tool

Collaboration and partnership working between Higher Education and the NHS is an essential requirement for effective delivery of care (Universities UK 2003). The North West Universities Association (NWUA) and the North West Development Agency (NWDA) are two organisations at the forefront of creating such alliances. The research project, Shaping the Future for Primary Care Education and Training Project is a collaborative partnership between both these organisations and seven North West Higher Education Institutions. In addition, the project brings together for the first time all the key partners in the health, social care and education sectors who are involved in supporting the delivery of integrated health and social care in the North West Region

Explicating the role of partnerships in changing the health and well-being of local communities: a profile of neighbourhood renewal activity focused on promoting health and well-being in Salford and the north west region and the north east of England

This scoping and mapping report is one of three outputs from a project: Explicating the role of partnerships in changing the health and well-being of local communities, one of a number of projects in a larger Higher Education Funding Council Strategic Development Fund project ( HEFCE ) entitled: Urban Regeneration: Making a Difference. This was a collaborative venture between Manchester Metropolitan University, Northumbria University, University of Salford and University of Central Lancashire. Bradford University was an affiliated partner

Treatment of head and neck cancer with photodynamic therapy: results after one year

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new and promising treatment modality for the treatment of malignant disease. This paper reports the preliminary experience of our group in the use of this therapy for the treatment of tumours arising in the head and neck. The majority of treatments in these cases have used a second generation systemic photosensitizer, meta-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (m-THPC). Two other cases were treated with either Photofrin 2 (a first generation systemic sensitizer) or with the topical photosensitizer, delta-aminolaevulinic acid (delta-ALA).The initial results have been encouraging with good clinical responses evident in patients presenting with a variety of differing tumour types. We feel there is now sufficient evidence of the efficacy of this treatment to warrant a multicentre prospective study into the treatment of early head and neck cancer with PDT

The forward kinematics of doubly-planar Gough-Stewart platforms and the position analysis of strips of tetrahedra

The final publication is available at link.springer.comA strip of tetrahedra is a tetrahedron-tetrahedron truss where any tetrahedron has two neighbors except those in the extremes which have only one. The problem of finding all the possible lengths for an edge in the strip compatible with a given distance imposed between the strip end-points has been revealed of relevance due to the large number of possible applications. In this paper, this is applied to solve the forward kinematics of 6-6 Gough-Stewart platforms with planar base and moving platform, a problem which is known to have up to 40 solutions (20 if we do not consider mirror configurations with respect to the base as different solutions).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Extending Hybrid CSP with Probability and Stochasticity

Probabilistic and stochastic behavior are omnipresent in computer controlled systems, in particular, so-called safety-critical hybrid systems, because of fundamental properties of nature, uncertain environments, or simplifications to overcome complexity. Tightly intertwining discrete, continuous and stochastic dynamics complicates modelling, analysis and verification of stochastic hybrid systems (SHSs). In the literature, this issue has been extensively investigated, but unfortunately it still remains challenging as no promising general solutions are available yet. In this paper, we give our effort by proposing a general compositional approach for modelling and verification of SHSs. First, we extend Hybrid CSP (HCSP), a very expressive and process algebra-like formal modeling language for hybrid systems, by introducing probability and stochasticity to model SHSs, which is called stochastic HCSP (SHCSP). To this end, ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are generalized by stochastic differential equations (SDEs) and non-deterministic choice is replaced by probabilistic choice. Then, we extend Hybrid Hoare Logic (HHL) to specify and reason about SHCSP processes. We demonstrate our approach by an example from real-world.Comment: The conference version of this paper is accepted by SETTA 201

Post-Tracheal Extubation Pulmonary Oedema. Case Report

O edema agudo do pulmão pós-extubação traqueal é um acontecimento raro (≈ 0,1%)1. A etiologia é multifactorial, sendo a obstrução da via aérea superior o factor desencadeante principal. O esforço inspiratório contra a glote encerrada causa pressões intra torácicas muito negativas, que se transmitem ao interstício pulmonar, condicionando uma transudação de fluidos a partir dos vasos capilares pulmonares1-5. Relatamos um caso de edema agudo do pulmão pós-extubação num doente de quinze anos, operado no serviço de urgência por amputação traumática da perna esquerda. Revemos a fisiopatologia, o padrão radiológico, potenciais factores de risco e medidas preventivas desta complicação respiratória pós-anestésica

The impact of stroke: are people with aphasia different to those without?

Purpose. Stroke rehabilitation programmes aim to improve functional outcomes and quality of life. This study explored long-term outcomes in a cohort of people admitted to two acute stroke units with stroke. Comparisons were drawn between people with aphasia (PWA) and people without aphasia. Methods. People admitted to hospital with a first stroke were assessed at 2-weeks, 3-months and 6-months post-stroke. Measures included: the Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living (ADL), the Frenchay Aphasia Screening Test, the General Health Questionnaire-12 for emotional well-being and the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39g. Extended ADL and social support were also measured at 3 and 6 months, with the Frenchay Activities Index and the Social Support Survey, respectively. Results. Of 126 eligible participants, 96(76%) took part and 87(69%) were able to self-report. Self-report data are reported here. Although outcomes improved significantly across time, at 6 months people continued to experience substantial functional limitations (16% aphasic; 32% dependent on basic ADL); participation limitations (79% ≤30 on the FAI); high psychological distress (45%) and compromised quality of life (54% ≤4 on the SAQOL-39g). Levels of social support remained relatively stable. Though at 3-months post-stroke PWA were significantly more likely to experience high psychological distress (93% versus 50% for those without), across time, there were no significant differences between PWA and those without on psychological distress and also ADL and social support. There were, however, significant differences on extended ADL (F(1,68) = 7.80, p < 0.01) and quality of life (F(1,69) = 6.30, p < 0.05). Conclusion. PWA participated in fewer activities and reported worse quality of life after stroke than people without aphasia, even when their physical abilities, well-being and social support were comparable. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed

Geometry of lines and degeneracy loci of morphisms of vector bundles

Corrado Segre played a leading role in the foundation of line geometry. We survey some recent results on degeneracy loci of morphisms of vector bundles where he still is of profound inspiration.Comment: 10 pages. To appear in the proceedings of the conference "Homage to Corrado Segre