Vaginal birth after caesarean section : why is uptake so low? Insights from a meta-ethnographic synthesis of women’s accounts of their birth choices

Funding MB is a research training fellow funded by The Wellcome Trust.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Museums and the ‘new museology’ : theory, practice and organisational change

The widening of roles and expectations within cultural policy discourses has been a challenge to museum workers throughout Great Britain. There has been an expectation that museums are changing from an ‘old’ to a ‘new museology’ that has shaped museum functions and roles. This paper outlines the limitations of this perceived transition as museum services confront multiple exogenous and endogenous expectations, opportunities, pressures and threats. Findings from 23 publically funded museum services across England, Scotland and Wales are presented to explore the roles of professional and hierarchical differentiation, and how there were organisational and managerial limitations to the practical application of the ‘new museology’. The ambiguity surrounding policy, roles and practice also highlighted that museum workers were key agents in interpreting, using and understanding wide-ranging policy expectations. The practical implementation of the ‘new museology’ is linked to the values held by museum workers themselves and how they relate it to their activities at the ground level

Financial considerations in the conduct of multi-centre randomised controlled trials: evidence from a qualitative study.

National Coordinating Centre for Research Methodology; Medical Research Council, UK Department of Health; Chief Scientist OfficeNot peer reviewedPublisher PD

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Prevalence of hypercalcaemia in primary hypoadrenocorticism in dogs: multicentre, retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Hypoadrenocorticism is an important differential for hypercalcemia. The aetiology of hypercalcemia in canine hypoadrenocorticism is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To review the prevalence of hypercalcemia and use statistical models to identify clinical, demographic and biochemical variables associated with hypercalcemia in dogs with primary hypoadrenocorticism. ANIMALS: 110 dogs with primary hypoadrenocorticism; 107 with recorded total calcium (TCa), 43 recorded ionised calcium (iCa). METHODS: Multicenter retrospective observational study at four UK referral hospitals. Univariable logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between independent variables of signalment, hypoadrenocorticism type (glucocorticoid only deficient hypoadrenocorticism (GHoC) vs glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid deficient hypoadrenocorticism (GMHoC)), clinicopathological parameters and hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia was defined as elevated TCa and/or iCa (Model 1) or as elevated iCa (Model 2). RESULTS: Overall prevalence of hypercalcemia was 34.5% (38/110). The odds of hypercalcemia (Model 1) were increased (P <.05) in patients with GMHoC ((vs. GHoC), OR [odds ratio] = 3.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.105 -13.463), increasing serum creatinine (OR = 1.512, 95% CI 1.041-2.197) and increasing serum albumin (OR = 4.187, 95% CI 1.744-10.048). The odds of ionised hypercalcemia (Model 2) were increased (P<.05) with decreasing serum potassium concentration (OR = 0.401, 95% CI 0.184-0.876) and younger age (OR = 0.737, 95% CI 0.558-0.974). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: This study identified several key clinical and biochemical variables associated with hypercalcemia in dogs with primary hypoadrenocorticism. These findings aid understanding of the pathophysiology and aetiology of hypercalcaemia in canine primary hypoadrenocorticism

Creative Informatics Final Report

This Creative Informatics Final Report summaries the work of Creative Informatics, a partnership project which has been supporting creatives in Edinburgh and South East Scotland from 2018-2024. We look back over the different strands of the programme, the work that has been enabled through Creative Informatics support and funding, the long term impacts on creative SMEs and the local economy, and we reflect on our learnings as well as sharing our plans for the future. Creative Informatics (https://creativeinformatics.org/) is part of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme; a UK wide initiative designed to drive innovation, growth, and sustainability in the Creative Industries, through a first of-its-kind research and development investment of £80m by the UK government. With a focus on Edinburgh and South East Scotland, Creative Informatics is working to drive growth and sustainability in this region’s world class creative industries by supporting creative individuals and organisations to do inspiring things with data. The programme is led by the University of Edinburgh and is delivered in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University, CodeBase and Creative Edinburgh