Bird communities in the buffer lands of Epping Forest

A farmland site in the green-belt buffer lands to the north of Epping Forest was surveyed for bird species across one calendar year. This is the first known effort in this area. The principal focus was upon birds listed on the Farmland Bird Index, but all species encountered were recorded, giving 41 species in total. Diversity and dominance data is presented for the whole year and across seasons. Eleven of the 19 indicator species were registered, and ten of those were present during breeding season. The majority of the missing eight species are red listed and in population decline, but so are some of those recorded. Generalist species were more readily registered. Woodpigeon is the dominant species, from two forms of analysis. The limitations of this survey and next steps are discussed

Research ethics oversight in Norway : structure, function, and challenges

Background While the development and evaluation of clinical ethics services in Norway has been recognized internationally, the country’s research ethics infrastructure at times may have been less well developed. In 2016, media interest in the controversial nature of some health services research and pilot studies highlighted gaps in the system with certain types of research having no clear mechanisms through which they may be given due independent consideration. It is not clear that new legislation, implemented in 2017, will address this problem. Summary We explore relevant law, committee scope, and the function of the system. We show that 1) Norwegian law provides for ethics assessment for all forms of health research; 2) regional RECs in Norway might not have always enforced this provision, considering some interventional health services research to be outside their remit; and 3) Norwegian law does not explicity provide for local/university RECs, meaning that, in practice, there may be no readily accessible mechanisms for the assessment of research that is excluded by regional RECs. This may include health services research, pilot studies, and undergraduate research. New 2017 legislation has no effect on this specifically but focuses on institutions regulating researcher activity. This may place researchers in the difficult situation of on one hand, needing to hold to recognized ethical standards, while on the other, not readily having access to independent committee scrutiny to facilitate consistent operation with these standards. Conclusion To support researchers in Norway and to protect the public, it may be necessary either to widen the regional RECs’ remit or to make legislative alterations that permit and do not discourage the existence of local RECs

Restoration of Hypoglycemia Awareness After Islet Transplantation

OBJECTIVE—To determine the impact of islet transplantation (ITx) on hypoglycemia awareness in patients with unstable type 1 diabetes and its relation to islet function

Clinical Risk, Osteopathy and Management. The CROaM Study

Key Summary Points What we already know: There is an ongoing debate about the possible link between manipulation and negative outcome in patients. This has focussed on manipulation of the neck and stroke. In addition, there is a growing interest in other treatment reactions, such as increased pain and the appearance of new symptoms after treatment. To date, the evidence about manipulation is contradictory and there is little existing published information about these types of outcomes in osteopathy. What we did: A survey to all UK practising osteopaths was carried out, followed by in-depth interviews of selected osteopaths. Osteopaths also invited patients to provide information about their experience of osteopathic care and its outcomes. Patients were surveyed before treatment, one day and two days after treatment and at six weeks. Selected patients were interviewed. 1,082 (27.8%) osteopaths completed the practitioner survey. Interviews took place with 24 osteopaths. 2,057 patients, recruited from 212 osteopaths, completed questionnaires before their treatment. 1782 patients (86.6%) agreed to be followed up at 6 weeks; of these, 1,387 (77%) patients returned six week follow-up questionnaires. Interviews took place with 19 patients. What we found: Four percent of patients reported that they had experienced temporary dis-ability that was attributed to their osteopathic treatment. Ten of these patients were interviewed and only two described serious problems, neither of which were stroke. Osteopaths reported that they had seen patients who had experienced serious problems after treatment. A range of events occurring in the preceding year were described by 4% of osteopaths. The most common event described was the occurrence of pain associated with a trapped nerve. There were also 7 reports of stroke like symptoms. Between 10% and 20% of patients experienced increased symptoms/pain related to their main complaint in the days immediately following treatment, and this was highest amongst new patients. At six weeks, 10% of the patients had seen another healthcare practitioner because of the worsening of their main complaint, which they associated with the osteopathic care that they had received. The comparison between those that received manipulation and those that did not suggests that manipulation was not linked to outcomes. Osteopaths reported obtaining consent from patients less often than is required by osteopaths' Standards of Practice. This was especially low in returning patients and for techniques familiar to the patient. Patients reported being asked for their consent less often than the frequency with which osteopaths reported receiving consent. About one-third of patients reported that they had received information about risks and about 40% reported that they had received information from their osteopaths about alternative or no treatment options. Over half of the patients (55%) achieved at least a 30% decrease in symptoms/pain by day two post treatment. Similar improvement was seen at 6 weeks. Those with widespread pain were least likely to improve. New patients and those returning with a new episode of pain improved most. The majority of osteopaths favoured the establishment of an adverse events register. What this means for practice and policy: The evidence suggests that serious problems following osteopathic care are rare, but do occur. Whilst the link between any speci�fic treatment technique and these outcomes was not supported, osteopaths should be aware of the possibility of serious events occurring during or after treatment. With respect to stroke associated with neck and head pain, osteopaths should be vigilant about known risk factors and presenting symptoms of vascular pain arising from the neck. Osteopaths should inform patients about the possibility that they may experience increases in symptoms/pain associated with their main complaint shortly after treatment. This information should be given to all patients regardless of the site of presenting complaint and the nature of the treatment the osteopath proposes. There is a need to develop further guidance and educational materials for osteopaths regarding the process of consent. Further activity is indicated to assess the cost and feasibility of a reporting and learning system for adverse events and treatment reactions in osteopathy

A systematic review and meta-synthesis of the impact of low back pain on people's lives

Copyright @ 2014 Froud et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Background - Low back pain (LBP) is a common and costly problem that many interpret within a biopsychosocial model. There is renewed concern that core-sets of outcome measures do not capture what is important. To inform debate about the coverage of back pain outcome measure core-sets, and to suggest areas worthy of exploration within healthcare consultations, we have synthesised the qualitative literature on the impact of low back pain on people’s lives. Methods - Two reviewers searched CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, PEDro, and Medline, identifying qualitative studies of people’s experiences of non-specific LBP. Abstracted data were thematic coded and synthesised using a meta-ethnographic, and a meta-narrative approach. Results - We included 49 papers describing 42 studies. Patients are concerned with engagement in meaningful activities; but they also want to be believed and have their experiences and identity, as someone ‘doing battle’ with pain, validated. Patients seek diagnosis, treatment, and cure, but also reassurance of the absence of pathology. Some struggle to meet social expectations and obligations. When these are achieved, the credibility of their pain/disability claims can be jeopardised. Others withdraw, fearful of disapproval, or unable or unwilling to accommodate social demands. Patients generally seek to regain their pre-pain levels of health, and physical and emotional stability. After time, this can be perceived to become unrealistic and some adjust their expectations accordingly. Conclusions - The social component of the biopsychosocial model is not well represented in current core-sets of outcome measures. Clinicians should appreciate that the broader impact of low back pain includes social factors; this may be crucial to improving patients’ experiences of health care. Researchers should consider social factors to help develop a portfolio of more relevant outcome measures.Arthritis Research U

The Power of Low Back Pain Trials

Funding: Campus Kristiania, University of Warwick, Monash 1 University, and Barts and the London Charity. RB is funded by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellowshi

A simple electron time-of-flight spectrometer for ultrafast vacuum ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid solutions

We present a simple electron time of flight spectrometer for time resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid samples using a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) source produced by high-harmonic generation. The field free spectrometer coupled with the time-preserving monochromator for the VUV at the Artemis facility of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory achieves an energy resolution of 0.65 eV at 40 eV with a sub 100 fs temporal resolution. A key feature of the design is a differentially pumped drift tube allowing a microliquid jet to be aligned and started at ambient atmosphere while preserving a pressure of 10−1 mbar at the micro channel plate detector. The pumping requirements for photoelectron (PE) spectroscopy in vacuum are presented while the instrument performance is demonstrated with PE spectra of salt solutions in water. The capability of the instrument for time resolved measurements is demonstrated by observing the ultrafast (50 fs) vibrational excitation of water leading to temporary proton transfer

Symptomatic Social Science: Reflexivity, Recognition and Redistribution in the GBCS

The article examines methodological and theoretical issues related to the GBCS. It acknowledges its importance for the public profile of sociology, whilst arguing that it needs to develop a better sense of what it stands for not only in terms of understanding societal changes, but contributing to human betterment. To achieve this it discusses the role of reflexivity in the GBCS with reference to position and disposition and accounts of its process. It then moves on to examine its normative basis in terms of an ‘existential analytics’ and suggests a series of ways in which it might advance its insights as the work develops

Attitudes and perceptions regarding entrepreneurship around the world : a cluster analysis approach

Nowadays it is believed that entrepreneurship could be a driving force in growth and development. For the achievement of a relevant national entrepreneurship rate the social and economic business environment can be crucial. However, despite the international attention given to entrepreneurship, it is not known if it is a global phenomenon or if there are particular regions where the entrepreneurial activity is specially recognized by society. Applying cluster analysis statistical techniques to a dataset gathered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and that includes, in 2010, 59 countries this paper intends to identify groups of countries with the same population attitude and perception regarding entrepreneurship