Stroke patients admitted within normal working hours are more likely to achieve process standards and to have better outcomes

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to David Murphy of the SSCA for providing data and to Lynsey Waugh of ISD Scotland for linking the SSCA data with General Register Office data. The authors also acknowledge the help of all who enter data into SSCA. Funding This study was funded by Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland (Grant no R14/A156). The SSCA is funded by NHS Scotland via ISD.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Trends in intracerebral haemorrhage admissions, prior anticoagulant use, acute stroke care, and mortality outcomes 2011-2018: : A national Scottish database study.

Peer reviewedPostprin

Technology in apparel design – what is being used?

Undergraduate fashion and apparel programs strive to keep up with the changing needs of fashion industry employers, especially with respect to technology. Experience using design software is one necessary skill for fashion designers, but which software program or programs to teach is a question fashion faculty must grapple with as they strive to keep curricula current and relevant. While some software packages may be donated to schools as a gift, there are still substantial hardware, training, and support costs involved with maintaining and teaching specialized software solutions at a university. To this end, an examination of industry requirements for apparel design technology was conducted to determine if curriculum offerings are aligned or mismatched with industry needs

Is place or person more important in determining higher rural cancer mortality? A data-linkage study to compare individual versus area-based measures of deprivation:Is place or person more important in determining higher rural cancer mortality?

FUNDING This project was conducted without external funding and with the support of the Administrative Data Research Network as an exemplar project to demonstrate the feasibility of linking clinical datasets to data from the UK Census. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We acknowledge the support from three sources to conduct this project. We are grateful for support from Professor Corri Black, Dr Joanne Lumsden and Dr Vicky Munro at the Data Safe Haven (DaSH) of NHS Grampian and University of Aberdeen. We also gratefully for the support received from Amy Tilbrook, Suhail Iqbal and Julian Augley from the Electronic Data Research and Innovation Service (eDRIS) of Public Health Scotland. We also acknowledge the support of the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (ADR Scotland).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Production of Reactive Oxygen Species by Multipotent Stromal Cells/Mesenchymal Stem Cells Upon Exposure to Fas Ligand

Multipotent stromal cells (MSCs) can be differentiated into osteoblasts and chondrocytes, making these cells candidates to regenerate cranio-facial injuries and lesions in long bones. A major problem with cell replacement therapy, however, is the loss of transplanted MSCs at the site of graft. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nonspecific inflammation generated at the ischemic site have been hypothesized to lead to MSCs loss; studies in vitro show MSCs dying both in the presence of ROS or cytokines like FasL. We questioned whether MSCs themselves may be the source of these death inducers, specifically whether MSCs produce ROS under cytokine challenge. On treating MSCs with FasL, we observed increased ROS production within 2 h, leading to apoptotic death after 6 h of exposure to the cytokine. N-acetyl cysteine, an antioxidant, is able to protect MSCs from FasL-induced ROS production and subsequent ROS-dependent apoptosis, though the MSCs eventually succumb to ROS-independent death signaling. Epidermal growth factor (EGF), a cell survival factor, is able to protect cells from FasL-induced ROS production initially; however, the protective effect wanes with continued FasL exposure. In parallel, FasL induces upregulation of the uncoupling protein UCP2, the main uncoupling protein in MSCs, which is not abrogated by EGF; however, the production of ROS is followed by a delayed apoptotic cell death despite moderation by UCP2. FasL-induced ROS activates the stress-induced MAPK pathways JNK and p38MAPK as well as ERK, along with the activation of Bad, a proapoptotic protein, and suppression of survivin, an antiapoptotic protein; the latter two key modulators of the mitochondrial death pathway. FasL by itself also activates its canonical extrinsic death pathway noted by a time-dependent degradation of c-FLIP and activation of caspase 8. These data suggest that MSCs participate in their own demise due to nonspecific inflammation, holding implications for replacement therapies.National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (GM069668)National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (U.S.) (DE019523

Geographic variation in diagnostic and treatment interval, cancer stage and mortality among colorectal patients : an international comparison between Denmark and Scotland using data-linked cohorts

FUNDING This project was conducted without external funding and with the support of the Data Safe Haven (DaSH) of the University of Aberdeen and Statistics Denmark. Acknowledgements We wish to acknowledge Dr Vicky Munro and Dr Joanne Lumsden from the Aberdeen Centre of Data Health Science who worked with the authors in preparing the Scottish Data for Transfer to Statistic Denmark. We also acknowledge Statistics Denmark for hosting the combined dataset for analysis and Kaare Rud Flarup for help with data management. We also acknowledge Professor Lesley Anderson and Dr Lisa Iversen for providing comments on the manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

The health and economic burden of podoconiosis in Ethiopia

Background: Podoconiosis is one of the leading causes of lymphoedema-related morbidity in low-income settings, but little is known about the scale of its health and economic impact. This information is required to inform control programme planning and policy. In this study, we estimated the health and economic burdens of podoconiosis in Ethiopia. Methods: We developed a model to estimate the health burden attributed to podoconiosis in terms of the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and the economic burden. We estimated the economic burden by quantifying the treatment and morbidity management costs incurred by the healthcare system in managing clinical cases, patients’ out-of-pocket costs, and their productivity costs. Results: In 2017, there were 1.5 million cases of podoconiosis in Ethiopia, which corresponds to 172,073 DALYs or 182 per 100,000 people. The total economic burden of podoconiosis in Ethiopia is estimated to be US$213.2 million annually and 91.1$136.9. Conclusions: The national cost of podoconiosis is formidable. If control measures are scaled up and the morbidity burden reduced, this will lead to Ethiopia saving millions of dollars. Our estimates provide important benchmark economic costs to programme planners, policy makers and donors for resource allocation and priority setting