Booms and busts: consumption, house prices and expectations

Over much of the past 25 years, the cycles of house price and consumption growth have been closely synchronised. Three main hypotheses for this co-movement have been proposed in the literature. First, that an increase in house prices raises households' wealth, particularly for those in a position to trade down the housing ladder, which increases their desired level of expenditure. Second, that house price growth increases the collateral available to homeowners, reducing credit constraints and thereby facilitating higher consumption. And third, that house prices and consumption have tended to be influenced by common factors. This paper finds that the relationship between house prices and consumption is stronger for younger than older households, which appears to contradict the wealth channel. These findings therefore suggest that common causality has been the most important factor behind the link between house price and consumption.House prices, consumption booms, wealth effects, collateral effects, common causality

The role of family income and other factors in understanding the food and eating practices of young people in the UK: A mixed methods approach

In the UK there are well recognised socio-economic inequalities in diet and health. However, research about dietary inequalities rarely focuses on young people. Whilst some qualitative research has studied how low-income families manage food and eating, less has examined or compared young people’s food practices in more affluent families. This study takes a mixed methods approach to examine the role of family income and other factors in understanding the food and eating practices of young people (aged 11 – 16 years) in higher-income and lower-income families at home and school. To examine the relationship with young people’s diet quality, secondary analyses of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS; 2008/09 - 2013/14) was carried out. To explore the ways in which young people’s diets and food practices are shaped by different contexts, the study employed a case approach using a range of qualitative methods with young people in six higher and 30 lower-income families from one inner London borough. Quantitative analyses of the NDNS show that as household income increases young people’s diet quality also increases. Other factors also appeared to be important: family food purchasing, the young person’s sex, takeaway consumption and mothers’ employment. The qualitative analyses of cases found that lower family income generally constrained the household food budget, limiting young people’s access to quality fresh food. In contrast, higher family income meant families spent more on food and young people had greater access to more nutritious foods. Mothers’ working hours and family food practices related to parental ethnicity were also important. Whilst challenges of bringing together the different data and analyses are noted, it is argued that, in combination, they provide a fuller and more nuanced picture of the ways in which income and other factors influence the diets and food practices of young people

Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning

The findings are grouped into four sections. The first section on student achievement finds that there were positive effects on student mathematics and reading performance and that the lowest-performing students made substantial gains relative to their peers. The second section on implementation and the perceptions of stakeholders finds that adoption of personalized learning practices varied considerably. Personalized learning practices that are direct extensions of current practice were more common, but implementation of some of the more challenging personalized learning strategies was less common. The third section relates implementation features to outcomes and identifies three elements of personalized learning that were being implemented in tandem in the schools with the largest achievement effects. Finally, the fourth section compares teachers' and students' survey responses to a national sample and finds some differences, such as teachers' greater use of practices that support competency-based learning and greater use of technology for personalization in the schools in this study with implementation data

Addressing Obesity in Stevenage, Hertfordshire: A Consultation with Young People

Public Health England have identified that almost a quarter of children are overweight when they start primary school, which increases to a third when they leave in year 6 aged 10-11 years. This has implications for young peoples’ physical and mental health and also later in adult life. The newly launched NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) East of England is focusing on selected areas of health inequality and this includes neighbourhoods in Stevenage, Hertfordshire which have high rates of childhood obesity. In order to find out what young people think about these issues, Hertfordshire County Council and the University of Hertfordshire carried out a collaborative project in 2019. Hertfordshire County Council have adopted a Whole Systems approach to obesity and are keen to engage with young people in order to prioritise issues identified by them. The importance of ‘involving’ young people in shaping services has been widely documented. Two researchers met twice with 56 young people (from a range of schools) aged 16 years who were attending the National Citizen Service (NCS) scheme at a school in Stevenage in the summer holidays. A number of involvement activities were carried out during the sessions. The young people, with help from the researchers, facilitated their own informal discussion groups, using maps, flips charts, post-it notes and an anonymous suggestion box. The first session did not mention obesity but allowed open discussion about what it was like to live in Stevenage and the second session focussed more on the issue of ‘obesity and weight’. The young people were encouraged to find their own solutions and imagine if they “were in charge”. The four main themes that came from the sessions were; affordability, crime and anti-social behaviour, transport and places to go and eat. A number of solutions were suggested by the young people which included; healthy environment (e.g. cycle paths, street lights, regulation of shops), community approach (e.g. more affordable sports activities), schools (e.g. raise awareness, promote sport), focus on young people (e.g. activities for young people and healthy affordable eating outlets) and helping people maintain a healthy weight. The priorities identified by local young people and the wider issues they raised are important to take into consideration when shaping any intervention or public health initiative, especially when considering the wider determinants of health. Listening to the issues and solutions and using the language of young people is vital and young people should be included in co-designing any services that are aimed at them. Involving local young people who know an area and who can identify important issues is vital for any successful public health intervention

The Many Hats of Sonic Hedgehog Signaling in Nervous System Development and Disease.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling occurs concurrently with the many processes that constitute nervous system development. Although Shh is mostly known for its proliferative and morphogenic action through its effects on neural stem cells and progenitors, it also contributes to neuronal differentiation, axonal pathfinding and synapse formation and function. To participate in these diverse events, Shh signaling manifests differently depending on the maturational state of the responsive cell, on the other signaling pathways regulating neural cell function and the environmental cues that surround target cells. Shh signaling is particularly dynamic in the nervous system, ranging from canonical transcription-dependent, to non-canonical and localized to axonal growth cones. Here, we review the variety of Shh functions in the developing nervous system and their consequences for neurodevelopmental diseases and neural regeneration, with particular emphasis on the signaling mechanisms underlying Shh action

A Case of Co-Secreting TSH and Growth Hormone Pituitary Adenoma Presenting with a Thyroid Nodule

Co-secreting TSH and growth hormone pituitary adenomas are rare. We present a case of a 55-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of neck fullness. Ultrasound revealed multiple thyroid nodules and examination revealed several clinical features of acromegaly. She was found to have a co-secreting TSH and growth hormone pituitary macroadenoma. She underwent surgical resection followed by gamma knife radiation, which resulted in complete remission of her TSH and GH-secreting adenoma

Informing the Hertfordshire Food Poverty Needs Assessment: Household Experiences of Food Poverty and Support Service Provision in Hertfordshire

Although the proportion of residents at a higher risk of experiencing food poverty in Hertfordshire is below the national average (15.8%), 10.3 per cent of residents are still at a high risk. ‘Food poverty’ is a visible symptom and consequence of poverty. The aim of this research is to contribute an understanding of residents’ experiences of food poverty, their experiences of accessing support services and to determine what gaps there are in service provision in Hertfordshire. This research was undertaken to inform the Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) ‘Food Poverty Needs Assessment’ being undertaken to inform policy and practice across Hertfordshire (HCC, 2021). Although this work is not directly exploring the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of people experiencing food poverty in the UK has increased since its onset, so this work is timely. Twenty-three Hertfordshire residents completed a survey and five residents took part in an in-depth semi-structured interview. Three focus groups were undertaken with 15 service providers from organisations providing support for those experiencing food poverty across Hertfordshire. Residents identified multiple factors that contributed to their experience of food poverty, including physical and/or mental health issues, the high cost of housing, unemployment or furlough during the pandemic, low pay and/or insecure work, debt and Universal Credit. These factors were often cumulative. Households described how they used numerous strategies in response and often prioritised paying housing costs and household utilities. Food budgets were then determined by the little money left over. Other strategies included exhaustive budgeting, pre-planning purchases and meals, shopping in multiple outlets and using cheaper ‘budget’ supermarkets. For households with children, parents sometimes skipped meals and/or bought cheaper poorer quality food (or ‘junk food’) to ensure that their children were not hungry. Informal social networks (such as family and friends) provided financial and practical support including childcare. Formal support included food aid from food banks as well as guidance and advice from services such as Herts Help, Citizens Advice and the Money Advice Unit. Free school meals were also seen as vital to families with children. Residents were largely positive about their experiences of accessing support services. However, they often struggled to know what support was available to them or how to access support in the first instance. They recommended better availability of information about what support is available and that this information should not just be accessible via the internet. Focus groups suggested that the root cause of food poverty was poverty itself, caused by insufficient income. They stated that local responses to the complexities of food poverty should be multiagency and there were good examples of existing partnership working between organisations. Service providers explained how the demand for services had increased during the COVID-19 pandemic with food banks noting changes in the demographic profile of service users. There was consensus that a countywide response to food poverty in Hertfordshire should be informed by public health approaches that prioritise prevention. There was widespread agreement for the need to map the existing services operating across Hertfordshire to identify gaps in provision and ensure residents are able to access the most appropriate support available to them and that organisations can work collaboratively as efficiently as possible. Service providers also recommended a need for strategic leadership, establishment of outcomes and priority setting for food poverty work across Hertfordshire

High efficacy of layered controls for reducing transmission of airborne pathogens

In the past two decades, novel viruses capable of airborne transmission have emerged with alarming frequency, including SARS-CoV-1 in 2003, H1N1 in 2009, MERS in 2012, and SAR-CoV-2 in 2019. Yet, in many countries, controls on airborne transmission were not widely adopted until the COVID-19 pandemic. To optimize strategies for curbing the transmission of existing airborne viruses and to prepare for outbreaks of novel viruses in the future, the efficacy of three key controls -- face masks, ventilation, and physical distancing -- must be well understood. In this study, we used the new Quadrature-based model of Respiratory Aerosol and Droplets (QuaRAD) to quantify the efficacy of controls across thousands of scenarios that represent the wide variability in factors governing airborne transmission. We show that, while the efficacy of any individual control was highly variable among scenarios, the combination of universal mask-wearing and distancing of at least 1~m reduced the median risk of initial infection in the susceptible person by 99\% relative to a close (0.5~m), unmasked conversation. Increasing ventilation rates by 4~air changes per hour led to further reductions in the median risk of infection by more than 70\% if the two people were distanced by 2~m or more. The combination of face masks, distancing, and increased ventilation reduced the risk of infection by more than 98\% in more than 95\% of scenarios. These findings suggest that layering controls is highly effective for reducing transmission of airborne pathogens and will be critical for curbing outbreaks of novel viruses in the future

Managing behavioural and psychological symptoms in community dwelling older people with dementia:1. A systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions

© 2018 The Author(s) This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Two-thirds of people living with dementia live at home in the UK and many experience distressing behavioural and psychological symptoms. This systematic review evaluates the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for behavioural and psychological symptoms among community-dwelling people living with dementia. Methods: This two-stage review undertook an initial mapping of the literature followed by a systematic review of relevant randomised controlled trials. We searched electronic databases for pertinent studies reporting outcomes from interventions from January 2000 to March 2015 and updated searches in October 2016. We included studies that considered behavioural and psychological symptom management for older people living with dementia who live at home and excluded studies conducted in long-term care settings. This paper presents findings from a narrative synthesis of 48 randomised controlled trials evaluating interventions for people living with dementia alone, family carers alone and patient-carer dyads. Results: We retrieved 17,871 de-duplicated records and screened them for potential inclusion. Evidence from 48 randomised controlled trials suggests that family carer training and educational programmes that target problem behaviours and potential triggers can improve outcomes. Nurses and occupational therapists appear to help people with dementia with behavioural and psychological symptoms, but professional comparisons are lacking and there is no shared language about or understanding of behavioural and psychological symptoms amongst professionals, or between professionals and family carers. Conclusions: Future research should focus on the effectiveness of components of multi-faceted programmes and their cost effectiveness and include qualitative data to better target interventions for behavioural and psychological symptoms. It is important to consider family carer readiness to use non-pharmacological strategies and to develop a shared language about the inherent needs and communications of behavioural and psychological symptoms.Peer reviewe

Twenty years of Women, Peace and Security National Action Plans: analysis and lessons learned

National Action Plans (NAPs) are a strategic tool for policymakers to operationalise and translate the international mandates of the WPS agenda into the domestic context. However, despite the adoption of UNSCR 1325 in the year 2000, NAPs did not become a UN priority until the release of two Security Council presidential statements, in 2004 and 2005, encouraging the adoption of NAPs as a means of implementation. Researchers and practitioners alike had, in the years prior, pointed out a lacuna in WPS implementation strategies. NAPs, then, became a means to ‘effectively translate this international framework into actionable changes at the national and local level’, and UNSCRs 2122 and 1889 encouraged UN member states to develop NAPs for the implementation of WPS. NAPs represent the institutionalisation of UNSCR 1325 by states. As of August 2019, 42% of states – or a total of 82 countries – had released NAPs. For policymakers and scholars of the WPS agenda, NAPs represent a concrete step by states to fulfil their objectives regarding UNSCR 1325 and the other resolutions that make up the WPS agenda. In this paper, we use both qualitative and quantitative analysis to answer the following research questions: 1. Which pillar(s) of the NAPs are dominant? Is this changing over time? 2. What are the dominant categories of lead, including over time and by region? 3. To what extent are new and/or emerging security issues – such as terrorism, climate change and reproductive rights – represented in the NAPs? 4. To what extent is a budget specified in the NAPs? 5. To what extent do the NAPs contain provisions for monitoring and evaluation activities? 6. To what extent do the NAPs document the participation of civil society in production and implementation? We conclude briefly with a discussion of the insights drawn from the analysis and some considerations and recommendations for future NAP development. In the following section, we briefly outline our dataset and the analytical approach that we took