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Voices from the street: policies, practice and victimisation prevent people escaping life on the streets and contribute to health inequalities
Get PDFEvery human being has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Yet the street community, that is people rough sleeping, ‘begging’, street drinking or selling sex on the streets, have extremely poor health outcomes and lower age of death than the general population. Shockingly, the average age of death for the homeless population is around 30 years lower than for the general population
Redefining the role of Learning Development practitioners
Get PDFAt a time when higher education (HE) sector funding is reported to be ever more perilous (Simons and Lister, 2024; Wareing, 2024) and means of making savings may need to be enacted at universities, it is essential that the unique role and impact of Learning Development (LD) practitioners is clearly understood by decision makers, for only then will it be valued and resourced. Use of non-distinct titles such as ‘third space practitioner’ or even ‘LD practitioner’, whilst interesting philosophically, hide the powerful ontological roots and epistemic practices of LD and may suggest duplication of role functions and incorrectly the potential to merge roles or teams together. In this opinion piece, I propose there is now a need to adopt greater specificity in how the role of LD practitioners is defined. I suggest this can be achieved by defining areas of activity, quantifying time spent on each and through doing so establish a taxonomy or sub-specialisms of LD practitioners. This serves to emphasise the distinctiveness of LD practitioner work and facilitates comparisons between both LD practitioners and LD community members within and between higher education institutions. It would also allow for the extent to which LD related roles are comparable to other ‘academic’, ‘non-academic’, and/or third-space roles to be determined
Professional development and recognition opportunities for learning development practitioners: international perspectives
Get PDFLearning Development (LD) practitioners have access to an expanding range of professional recognition and development opportunities (see Briggs, 2023). However, reports from members of the LD community highlight variations in the extent to which CPD engagement is facilitated and supported. Associated research that has sought to objectively establish trends pertaining to the factors that inhibit, or support engagement is limited. This 2024-25 ALDinHE funded international research study addressed this gap in knowledge through establishing the factors that impact on LD practitioner access to and engagement with professional development and recognition. To facilitate meaningful comparisons of LD practitioners a taxonomy of LD roles was also developed (as proposed by Briggs, 2025).In autumn 2024, an online questionnaire (comprising open and closed questions) was sent to Academic Language and Learning Development Practitioners. This was administered with support of the International Consortium of Academic Language and Learning Developers (ICALLD) membership and included UK (ALDinHE), Australia (AALL), New Zealand (ATLAANZ), Canada (LSAC) and South Africa. Responses were analysed through a mix of established qualitative and quantitative methods. In this session we shared our proposed thematic taxonomy of LD roles. We then presented results detailing the personal, institutional, national or international factors found to support or inhibit the professional development, recognition and promotion routes available to Academic Language and LD Practitioners. We invited attende</jats:p>
Trajectory to professorship for third space practitioners: a learning developer perspective
Get PDFA higher education (HE) professional with a role that spans across the traditional academic and non-academic dichotomy is described as working within the ‘third space’ (Whitchurch, 2013). Whitchurch (2023) conceptualises the third space as, ‘likely to be plural and to be comprised of multiple spaces, which may continually reconfigure’. Therefore, some staff may work permanently or periodically in the third space. I have worked in the third space as a Learning Developer for almost 20 years. During this time, I have been fortunate to progress in my career from an Academic Skills Tutor to Director of Learning and Teaching Excellence. I have co-chaired the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) and am humbled to have received a National Teaching Fellowship in 2020. However, up until around 12 months ago, I had never thought that I could realistically pursue a professorship.In this opinion piece, I explore the reasons for my preconceptions around professorship and the emergence of new professorship pathways. I consider broad criterion related to a Teaching and Learning (T&L) professorship pathway and how evidence might be obtained by a third space practitioner. Through these reflections, I hope to demystify potential sources of professorship evidence for other third space practitioners. In turn, I hope this will support aspiring third space professors in their career planning. In addition to aspiring professors, I anticipate that the practical suggestions included in this paper will help to support the career planning of third space practitioners who wish to pursue higher education leadership roles
114 Experiences of and perspectives on timely initiation and uptake of antenatal care among an ethnically diverse maternal cohort
Get PDFAim Antenatal care plays an important role in preventing adverse maternal?and new-born outcomes. The United Kingdom (UK)?clinical?guidelines recommend that women attend their first antenatal appointment by 10 weeks of pregnancy. Women from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to initiate antenatal care later than the recommended 10 weeks, compared to white British women. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of timely initiation and uptake of antenatal care among mothers from ethnically diverse areas in East of England, UK who initiated antenatal care after 10 weeks. Methods We conducted in-depth qualitative semi-structured interviews with 20 expectant or recent mothers in ethnically diverse areas who started care after 10 weeks. Mothers were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling, through a number of channels including local networks and online advertisements. Interviews lasted approximately one hour and were conducted in-person, over the phone or online based on participants’ preferences. Data were analysed using a thematic framework guided by Levesque Conceptual Framework.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>Three key themes emerged: 1.experiences of and perceptions about antenatal care appointments; 2.factors hindering timely initiation of antenatal care; and 3.strategies to enhance antenatal care uptake. Women felt dissatisfied with limited engagement during appointments and suggested that seeing the same midwife could improve trust and confidence. Delays were linked to low awareness and insufficient information on scheduling, as well as employment and childcare constraints. Participants recommended simplified health information about care pathways, appointment reminders, and multilingual resources to improve access. Conclusion Key barriers and delays in antenatal care appointments highlight the need for targeted interventions, including provision of simplified health information and culturally inclusive resources. Findings highlight?the need for addressing systemic challenges through culturally sensitive community based approaches to enhance timely uptake of antenatal care among women from ethnically diverse areas
Targeting TRPC-5 channel inhibition to improve penile vascular function in erectile dysfunction
Get PDFCanonical transient receptor potential (TRPC) channels contribute to calcium homeostasis, which is involved in penile vascular contractility and erectile dysfunction (ED) pathophysiology. We evaluated the impact of TRPC5 inhibition on endothelial function in penile vascular tissue from aging rats and ED patients and its effect on the relaxant efficacy of PDE5 inhibitors. TRPC inhibitor-induced endothelial and neurogenic relaxations were evaluated in corpus cavernosum (RCC) from a rat model of aging-related ED and in human penile resistance arteries (HPRAs) and corpus cavernosum (HCC) from ED patients and organ donors (NoED). The TRPC5 inhibitor, AC1903, was more effective than TRPC3 and TRPC4 inhibitors in relaxing aged RCC and HCC and HPRA from ED patients. In addition to enhancing endothelial and neurogenic relaxations in RCC from aged animals, AC1903 improved endothelium-dependent relaxation in both HCC and HPRA from ED patients but not in tissues from NoED. Cavernosal expression of TRPC5 was not different between ED and NoED subjects. AC1903 potentiated relaxations to the PDE5 inhibitor, tadalafil, in HCC/HPRA from ED patients. TRPC5 inhibition improved penile vascular function in aged rats and patients with ED. TRPC5 inhibition could be a potential therapeutic target for ED, particularly when combined with PDE5 inhibitors to enhance treatment outcomes.</p
Professionalisation of health psychology
Get PDFThe route to the professionalisation of health psychology has had many roads. For those working within health psychology, and for others with an interest in it, professional events, publications, and training assist the advancement of the science and its translation into policy and practice. Professional networks can also strengthen the identity of health psychology, offering a home to those with an interest in the area. This chapter will discuss professional meetings, events, conferences, and networks of health psychology, alongside networks wider than health psychology that have evolved to facilitate interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary working and professionalisation. Key publications, including journals and newsletters, will be evaluated with an international lens on dissemination of health psychology. Training from professional societies and networks in relation to accredited routes in the field and continuing professional development (CPD) will be further discussed, and links to more formalised practice-based organisations such as the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) in the United Kingdom will be explored. The chapter will conclude with a discussion on the challenges to the professionalisation of health psychology, accompanied by potential solutions and examples of successes to date
Adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia antigens and enriched pathways identify new targets for therapy
Get PDFBackground: Adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (aB-ALL) is characterised by abnormal differentiation and proliferation of lymphoid progenitors. Despite a significant improvement in relapse-free and overall survival for children with B-ALL, aB-ALL has a particularly poor prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of 20%. First remission is achieved for most patients, but relapse is common with a high associated mortality. New treatments such as immunotherapy offer an opportunity to extend remission and prevent relapse. Methods: aB-ALL antigens were identified using different sources—immunoscreening, protoarrays, two microarrays and one cancer-testis antigen database, and a review of the genomic analyses of aB-ALL. A total of 385 aB-ALL-associated gene products were examined for their association with patient survival. Results: We identified 87 transcripts with differential expression between aB-ALL and healthy volunteers (peripheral blood, bone marrow and purified CD19+ cells), and 42 that were associated with survival. Enrichr analysis showed that the Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGFβ), Wnt and Hippo pathways were highly represented (p < 0.02). We found that SOX4 and ROCK1 were upregulated in all types of B-ALL (ROCK1 having a p < 0.001 except in t(8;14) patients), as well as SMAD3 and TEAD4 upregulation being associated with survival (p = 0.0008, 0.05 and 0.001, respectively). Expression of each aB-ALL antigen was verified by qPCR, but only TEAD4 showed significant transcript upregulation in aB-ALL compared to healthy volunteer CD19+ cells (p = 0.01). Conclusions: We have identified a number of antigens and their pathways that play key roles in aB-ALL and may act as useful targets for future immunotherapy strategies.</p
Improving aging-related frailty status among older adults:Results of a nutrition-focused program
Get PDFBackground: Healthcare professionals today aim to boost the years older people live in good health by reducing the impact of aging-related frailty. Toward healthier aging, our current analysis quantified frailty changes that occurred when poorly nourished, community-living, older adults received interventional nutrition care. Methods: We recruited outpatient study participants ≥ 60 years and malnourished or at-risk on screening (Mini Nutrition Assessment-Short Form, MNA-SF). For quasi-experimental analysis, we selected those who were prefrail or frail by Fried phenotype criteria (n=524). Each followed a comprehensive nutrition-focused Quality Improvement Program (QIP)—counseling on nutrition and physical activity, daily consumption of oral nutritional supplements for 60 days (Ensure with Hydroxymethylbutyrate® and Glucerna®, Abbott, USA), with follow-up through day 90. We quantified outcomes as changes from baseline to post-intervention for (i) overall frailty status (frail, prefrail, normal) or (ii) number of positive Fried frailty criteria of five (weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, slow gait speed, and muscular weakness) using change categories Worse, Same, or Better. We also measured baseline and post-intervention status of nutritional state (MNA-SF), mental state/cognitive status (Mini-Mental State Exam, MMSE), depression/psychological health (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS), and disability (Barthel Index, BI). We applied logistic regression analyses to identify factors that predicted post-intervention improvement in frailty status. Results: At baseline, the mean age of participants was 74.2 (±8.7) years, 71% (n=372/524) of participants were prefrail, and 29% (n=152/524) were frail; 16.2% (n=85/524) were malnourished, and 83.8% (n=439/524) were at risk. By study day 90, 34.4% (180/524) of participants had a better frailty status, while 55% (n=288/524) met fewer frailty criteria. Better frailty status was also associated with significantly higher MNA-SF score (12.3 vs 9.1, P < 0.001), improved mental state/cognitive status as higher MMSE score (28.1 vs 27.7, P < 0.05), decreased depression/improved psychological health as lower GDS score (3.3 vs 4.5, P < 0.001), and greater independence as higher BI score (96.9 vs 96.1, P < 0.05). Logistic regression analyses showed that MNA-SF score improvement was predictive of frailty improvement in response to the nutrition-focused QIP intervention. Specifically, individuals who experienced improvement from prefrail or frail to normal were nearly 8-times more likely than others to have a parallel increase in MNA-SF score (Odds ratio of 7.83, 95% CI 4.3–15.2, P < 0.01). Conclusion: Healthy aging can be supported by addressing poor nutritional status, a frailty risk contributor. We found that community-living older adults achieved a better frailty status after following a nutrition-focused QIP. Notably, improved nutritional status predicted and paralleled improvement in frailty status. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04042987.</p
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