Correction to: Cluster identification, selection, and description in Cluster randomized crossover trials: the PREP-IT trials

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article

Senior clinicians role profiling: a qualitative evaluation

This report investigates findings arising from interviews with nine senior clinicians at Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust (henceforth CPFT), evaluating their experiences of using the Senior Clinicians’ Role Profile tool (henceforth SCRP) during its pilot in 2013. The SCRP itself was developed for use by senior clinicians working at/towards an accountable decision-making level in response to requests for a tool that would describe the leadership competencies and behaviours of a corporate clinician. Using the SCRP is intended to provide “details of behaviours that are highly relevant to success in a senior clinician role,” and “valuable information regarding your strengths and areas for development.” (NHS North West Leadership Academy, 2012, p.4)

The influence of Britain\u27s Margaret Thatcher on Australian politics and Australia\u27s influence on her, 1972-1983

This thesis examines the relationship between leading British conservative politician, Margaret Thatcher and Australia, from her first visit in 1972 to the defeat of the Liberal Party or ‘Conservative’ government led by Malcolm Fraser in the 1983 Australian elections and shows that Australia played a significant role in Thatcher’s career

#3M_DO_2019

This interdisciplinary research network – established by Alex Hale (Historic Environment Scotland), Antonia Thomas and Daniel Lee (UHI) and Kenneth Brophy (University of Glasgow) and funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh – was formed to discuss, observe, explore and expand understandings of the archaeology of the contemporary world, across and beyond Scotland; to enable the development of a research culture to create and inform approaches for Scotland’s contemporary archaeology; and to create avenues of discourse with policy makers, archaeologists, artists and others about the contemporary archaeologies of Scotland. The organisers posited that contemporary archaeology can be considered in two parts: - A methodological approach that encourages archaeologists to engage with the contemporary world as a suitable subject for archaeological study, and by exploring traditional and new methodologies; - It also provides opportunities for archaeologists to develop new theoretical approaches, which it is currently believed their discourse requires. Over the space of a calendar year (2019) this research network – in which I was a named collaborator – explored, by means of four knowledge sharing workshops in different geographical locations in Scotland, two research questions: - What are the roles and opportunities for contemporary archaeology in Scotland today? - How can contemporary archaeology benefit communities and engage with major social issues of the day in Scotland. Workshop 1: Glasgow, focusing on different encounters with a sense of place within the City; Workshop 2: Aberdeen, exploring concepts and practices of art/archaeology, graffiti and street art as a material evidence, beyond official narratives, of contemporary archaeology (in collaboration with the Nuart Festival); Workshop 3: Stromness, Orkney, experiencing a range of historic and contemporary archaeology sites and landscapes across Orkney, including those relating to renewable energy; Workshop 4: Edinburgh, discussing how to develop this research network to further explore urgent issues within contemporary archaeology

Pan-Canadian Evaluation of Irreversible Compression Ratios (“Lossy” Compression) for Development of National Guidelines

New technological advancements including multislice CT scanners and functional MRI, have dramatically increased the size and number of digital images generated by medical imaging departments. Despite the fact that the cost of storage is dropping, the savings are largely surpassed by the increasing volume of data being generated. While local area network bandwidth within a hospital is adequate for timely access to imaging data, efficiently moving the data between institutions requires wide area network bandwidth, which has a limited availability at a national level. A solution to address those issues is the use of lossy compression as long as there is no loss of relevant information. The goal of this study was to determine levels at which lossy compression can be confidently used in diagnostic imaging applications. In order to provide a fair assessment of existing compression tools, we tested and compared the two most commonly adopted DISCOM compression algorithms: JPEG and JPEG-2000. We conducted an extensive pan-Canadian evaluation of lossy compression applied to seven anatomical areas and five modalities using two recognized techniques: objective methods or diagnostic accuracy and subjective assessment based on Just Noticeable Difference. By incorporating both diagnostic accuracy and subjective evaluation techniques, enabled us to define a range of compression for each modality and body part tested. The results of our study suggest that at low levels of compression, there was no significant difference between the performance of lossy JPEG and lossy JPEG 2000, and that they are both appropriate to use for reporting on medical images. At higher levels, lossy JPEG proved to be more effective than JPEG 2000 in some cases, mainly neuro CT. More evaluation is required to assess the effect of compression on thin slice CT. We provide a table of recommended compression ratios for each modality and anatomical area investigated, to be integrated in the Canadian Association of Radiologists standard for the use of lossy compression in medical imaging

Endovascular treatment of mycotic aortic aneurysms:a European multicenter study

BACKGROUND Mycotic aortic aneurysm (MAA) is a rare and life-threatening disease. The aim of this European multicenter collaboration was to study the durability of endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) of MAA, by assessing late infection-related complications and long-term survival. METHODS AND RESULTS All EVAR treated MAAs, between 1999 and 2013 at 16 European centers, were retrospectively reviewed. One hundred twenty-three patients with 130 MAAs were identified. Mean age was 69 years (range 39-86), 87 (71%) were men, 58 (47%) had immunodeficiency, and 47 (38%) presented with rupture. Anatomic locations were ascending/arch (n=4), descending (n=34), paravisceral (n=15), infrarenal aorta (n=63), and multiple (n=7). Treatments were thoracic EVAR (n=43), fenestrated/branched EVAR (n=9), and infrarenal EVAR (n=71). Antibiotic was administered for mean 30 weeks. Mean follow-up was 35 months (range 1 week to 149 months). Six patients (5%) were converted to open repair during follow-up. Survival was 91% (95% confidence interval, 86% to 96%), 75% (67% to 83%), 55% (44% to 66%), and 41% (28% to 54%) after 1, 12, 60, and 120 months, respectively. Infection-related death occurred in 23 patients (19%), 9 after discontinuation of antibiotic treatment. A Cox regression analysis demonstrated non-Salmonella-positive culture as predictors for late infection-related death. CONCLUSIONS Endovascular treatment of MAA is feasible and for most patients a durable treatment option. Late infections do occur, are often lethal, and warrant long-term antibiotic treatment and follow-up. Patients with non-Salmonella-positive blood cultures were more likely to die from late infection

Practical strategies for improving outcomes in T2DM: The potential role of pioglitazone and DPP4 inhibitors

T2DM is a complex disease underlined by multiple pathogenic defects responsible for the development and progression of hyperglycaemia. Each of these factors can now be tackled in a more targeted manner thanks to glucose-lowering drugs that have been made available in the past 2 to 3 decades. Recognition of the multiplicity of the mechanisms underlying hyperglycaemia calls for treatments that address more than 1 of these mechanisms, with more emphasis placed on the earlier use of combination therapies. Although chronic hyperglycaemia contributes to and amplifies cardiovascular risk, several trials have failed to show a marked effect from intensive glycaemic control. During the past 10 years, the effect of specific glucose-lowering agents on cardiovascular risk has been explored with dedicated trials. Overall, the cardiovascular safety of the new glucose-lowering agents has been proven with some of the trials summarized in this review, showing significant reduction of cardiovascular risk. Against this background, pioglitazone, in addition to exerting a sustained glucose-lowering effect, also has ancillary metabolic actions of potential interest in addressing the cardiovascular risk of T2DM, such as preservation of beta-cell mass and function. As such, it seems a logical agent to combine with other oral anti-hyperglycaemic agents, including dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4i). DPP4i, which may also have a potential to preserve beta-cell function, is available as a fixed-dose combination with pioglitazone, and could, potentially, attenuate some of the side effects of pioglitazone, particularly if a lower dose of the thiazolidinedione is used. This review critically discusses the potential for early combination of pioglitazone and DPP4i