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How does research about literacy education move to, among and around teachers? Briefing for Independent Consultants
Get PDFEfficacy of systemic therapy on adults with depressive disorders: A meta-analysis
Get PDFObjective This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of systemic therapy approaches on adult clients with depressive disorders. Methods The illness-specific systematic review updates a previous meta-analysis on the efficacy of systemic therapy on psychiatric disorders in adulthood. It integrates the results of 30 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing systemic psychotherapy for depression with an untreated control group or alternative treatments. Studies were identified through systematic searches in relevant electronic databases and cross-referencing. A random-effects model calculated weighted mean effect sizes for each type of comparison (alternative treatments, control group with no alternative treatment/waiting list) on two outcomes (depressive symptoms change, drop-out rates). Results On average, systemic interventions show larger improvements in depressive symptoms compared to no-treatment controls at post-test (g = 1.09) and follow-up (g = 1.23). Changes do not significantly differ when comparing systemic interventions with alternative treatments (post-test g = 0.25; follow-up g = 0.09). Results also vary, in part, by participant age, publication year, and active control condition. Conclusion This meta-analysis indicates the potential benefits of systemic interventions for adult patients with depression. Future randomized clinical trials in this area should enhance study quality and include relational and other relevant outcome measures.Good Health and Well-Bein
Getting (ECO)Ready: Does EU Legislation Integrate Up-to-Date Scientific Data for Food Security and Biodiversity Preservation Under Climate Change?
Get PDFEuropean policies on climate change (CC), food security (FS), and biodiversity (BD) represent the EU’s commitment to a sustainable agri-food system, highlighting the interdependence between environmental health and food security. By analyzing key drivers and indicators, the present study evaluates the effectiveness of existing measures and identifies gaps in the policy framework. A Scoping Group activity facilitated dialogue between policymakers, industry, and farmer representatives to gather feedback and strengthen the data–policy link. The results highlight progress in areas such as promoting sustainable agriculture and biodiversity, while pointing out unresolved issues like the challenges faced by smallholder farmers. The study emphasizes the need for real-time monitoring tools and tailored solutions to address the complexities of the agri-food system. It also encourages the integration of emerging technologies, such as IoT and AI, to enhance the sustainability of agricultural practices. Ultimately, the findings call for a landscape-specific approach to maximize biodiversity gains, mitigate climate impacts, and ensure food security within the broader context of the EU’s ecological and socio-economic challenges
Policy Responses to the Healthy Aging Challenge: Confronting Hybridity with Social Innovation
Get PDFTackling the issue of healthy aging in society is complex. It requires an interdisciplinary perspective and different forms of innovation. This article provides a commentary on the role of innovation policy in addressing healthy aging, particularly in the UK context. We argue that the wide range of economic activities related to healthy aging is part of a hybrid domain rather than a single sector. This represents a new generation of innovation policy for healthy aging which prioritizes understanding how different actors can be connected to support a spectrum of types of innovation which will contribute to providing better goods, services, and practices for older people. We explore social innovation as it relates to hybrid domains such as healthy aging and discuss the role of place in creating policy which generates both societal and market value. We recommend that policymakers use these concepts to build a better understanding of the economies that are evolving around healthy aging and where opportunities exist to better conceptualize, connect, and support actors, initiatives, and places to optimize economic potential and social outcomes.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available OnlineGood Health and Well-Bein
Temporal course of cognitive and behavioural changes in motor neuron diseases
Get PDFBackground: Cognitive and behavioural dysfunction may occur in people with motor neuron disease (MND), with some studies suggesting an association with the C9ORF72 repeat expansion. Their onset and progression, however, is poorly understood. We explored how cognition and behaviour change over time, and whether demographic, clinical and genetic factors impact these changes. Methods: Participants with MND were recruited through the Phenotype-Genotype-Biomarker study. Every 3–6 months, the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) was used to assess amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) specific (executive functioning, verbal fluency, language) and ALS non-specific (memory, visuospatial) functions. Informants reported on behaviour symptoms via semi-structured interview. Results: Participants with neuropsychological data at ≥3 visits were included (n=237, mean age=59, 60% male), of which 18 (8%) were C9ORF72 positive. Baseline cognitive impairment was apparent in 18 (8%), typically in ALS specific domains, and associated with lower education, but not C9ORF72 status. Cognition, on average, remained stable over time, with two exceptions: (1) C9ORF72 carriers declined in all ECAS domains, (2) 8%–9% of participants with baseline cognitive impairment further declined, primarily in the ALS non-specific domain, which was associated with less education. Behavioural symptoms were uncommon. Conclusions: In this study, cognitive dysfunction was less common than previously reported and remained stable over time for most. However, cognition declines longitudinally in a small subset, which is not entirely related to C9ORF72 status. Our findings raise questions about the timing of cognitive impairment in MND, and whether it arises during early clinically manifest disease or even prior to motor manifestations
Deep learning for surgical instrument recognition and segmentation in robotic-assisted surgeries: a systematic review
Get PDFApplying deep learning (DL) for annotating surgical instruments in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) represents a significant advancement in surgical technology. This systematic review examines 48 studies that utilize advanced DL methods and architectures. These sophisticated DL models have shown notable improvements in the precision and efficiency of detecting and segmenting surgical tools. The enhanced capabilities of these models support various clinical applications, including real-time intraoperative guidance, comprehensive postoperative evaluations, and objective assessments of surgical skills. By accurately identifying and segmenting surgical instruments in video data, DL models provide detailed feedback to surgeons, thereby improving surgical outcomes and reducing complication risks. Furthermore, the application of DL in surgical education is transformative. The review underscores the significant impact of DL on improving the accuracy of skill assessments and the overall quality of surgical training programs. However, implementing DL in surgical tool detection and segmentation faces challenges, such as the need for large, accurately annotated datasets to train these models effectively. The manual annotation process is labor-intensive and time-consuming, posing a significant bottleneck. Future research should focus on automating the detection and segmentation process and enhancing the robustness of DL models against environmental variations. Expanding the application of DL models across various surgical specialties will be essential to fully realize this technology’s potential. Integrating DL with other emerging technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), also offers promising opportunities to further enhance the precision and efficacy of surgical procedures
Situated Affects and Place Memory
Get PDFTraces of many past events are often layered or superposed, in brain, body, and world alike. This often poses challenges for individuals and groups, both in accessing specific past events and in regulating or managing coexisting emotions or attitudes. We sometimes struggle, for example, to find appropriate modes of engagement with places with complex and difficult pasts. More generally, there can appear to be a tension between what we know about the highly constructive nature of remembering, whether it is drawing on neural or worldly resources or both, and the ways that we need and use memory to make claims on the past, and to maintain some appropriate causal connections to past events. I assess the current state of work on situated affect and distributed memory, and the recent criticisms of the ‘dogma of harmony’ in these fields. I then deploy these frameworks to examine some affective dimensions of place memory, sketching a strongly distributed conception of places as sometimes partly constituting the processes and activities of feeling and remembering. These approaches also offer useful perspectives on the problems of how to engage – politically and aesthetically – with difficult pasts and historically burdened heritage. In assessing artistic interventions in troubled places, we can seek responsibly to do justice to the past while fully embracing the dynamic and contested constructedness of our present emotions, memories, and activities
Politics and the Pandemic: The UK Covid-19 Inquiry and Devolution
Get PDFDrawing on documentary and oral evidence presented in Module 2 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, this article asks what the inquiry tells us about the nature and dynamics of intergovernmental relations (IGR) from the UK and devolved governments' interactions over the course of the pandemic. In so doing, the article focusses on formal IGR structures (since reformed), the actions of political leaders within these formal and informal structures and entrenched institutional cultures , with a particular focus on the ways in which decision-making processes and devolved dynamics were understood by the principal actors over the course of the pandemic. The article concludes with reflections on how IGR might be reset or reformed by the newly elected UK government
High intensity interval training as a novel treatment for impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes (HIT4HYPOS): a randomised parallel-group study
Get PDFAims/hypothesis: Impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia (IAH) in type 1 diabetes may develop through a process referred to as habituation. Consistent with this, a single bout of high intensity interval exercise as a novel stress stimulus improves counterregulatory responses (CRR) to next-day hypoglycaemia, referred to as dishabituation. This longitudinal pilot study investigated whether 4 weeks of high intensity interval training (HIIT) has sustained effects on counterregulatory and symptom responses to hypoglycaemia in adults with type 1 diabetes and IAH. Methods: HIT4HYPOS was a single-centre, randomised, parallel-group study. Participants were identified using the Scottish Diabetes Research Network (SDRN) and from diabetes outpatient clinics in NHS Tayside, UK. The study took place at the Clinical Research Centre, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK. Participants were aged 18–55 years with type 1 diabetes of at least 5 years’ duration and HbA1c levels <75 mmol/mol (<9%). They had IAH confirmed by a Gold score ≥4, modified Clarke score ≥4 or Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating [DAFNE] hypoglycaemia awareness rating of 2 or 3, and/or evidence of recurrent hypoglycaemia on flash glucose monitoring. Participants were randomly allocated using a web-based system to either 4 weeks of real-time continuous glucose monitoring (RT-CGM) or RT-CGM+HIIT. Participants and investigators were not masked to group assignment. The HIIT programme was performed for 20 min on a stationary exercise bike three times a week. Hyperinsulinaemic–hypoglycaemic (2.5 mmol/l) clamp studies with assessment of symptoms, hormones and cognitive function were performed at baseline and after 4 weeks of the study intervention. The predefined primary outcome was the difference in hypoglycaemia-induced adrenaline (epinephrine) responses from baseline following RT-CGM or RT-CGM+HIIT. Results: Eighteen participants (nine men and nine women) with type 1 diabetes (median [IQR] duration 27 [18.75–32] years) and IAH were included, with nine participants randomised to each group. Data from all study participants were included in the analysis. During the 4 week intervention there were no significant mean (SEM) differences between RT-CGM and RT-CGM+HIIT in exposure to level 1 (28 [7] vs 22 [4] episodes, p=0.45) or level 2 (9 [3] vs 4 [1] episodes, p=0.29) hypoglycaemia. The CGM-derived mean glucose level, SD of glucose and glucose management indicator (GMI) did not differ between groups. During the hyperinsulinaemic–hypoglycaemic clamp studies, mean (SEM) change from baseline was greater for the noradrenergic responses (RT-CGM vs RT-CGM+HIIT: −988 [447] vs 514 [732] pmol/l, p=0.02) but not the adrenergic responses (–298 [687] vs 1130 [747] pmol/l, p=0.11) in those participants who had undergone RT-CGM+HIIT. There was a benefit of RT-CGM+HIIT for mean (SEM) change from baseline in the glucagon CRR to hypoglycaemia (RT-CGM vs RT-CGM+HIIT: 1 [4] vs 16 [6] ng/l, p=0.01). Consistent with the hormone response, the mean (SEM) symptomatic response to hypoglycaemia (adjusted for baseline) was greater following RT-CGM+HIIT (RT-CGM vs RT-CGM+HIIT: −4 [2] vs 0 [2], p<0.05). Conclusions/interpretation: In this pilot clinical trial in people with type 1 diabetes and IAH, we found continuing benefits of HIIT for overall hormonal and symptomatic CRR to subsequent hypoglycaemia. Our findings also suggest that HIIT may improve the glucagon response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia
LGBT+ Welfare and Assets in Great Britain - Main Public Output
Get PDFFirst paragraph: This project aimed to understand the experiences of LGBT+ people when they access social security benefits. We use LGBT+ as an umbrella term to describe all people who are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender.No PovertyGood Health and Well-BeingGender EqualityDecent Work and Economic GrowthReduced InequalitiesPeace, Justice and strong institution
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