Digital Commons Network^™

Multi-Omic Analysis Of The Tumor Microenvironment Shows Clinical Correlations In Ph1 Study Of Atezolizumab +/- Soc In Mm, Sandy Wong, Habib Hamidi, Luciano J Costa, Selma Bekri, Natalia Neparidze, Ravi Vij, Tina G Nielsen, Aparna Raval, Rajan Sareen, Elisabeth Wassner-Fritsch, Hearn J Cho

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains incurable, and treatment of relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease is challenging. There is an unmet need for more targeted therapies in this setting; deep cellular and molecular phenotyping of the tumor and microenvironment in MM could help guide such therapies. This phase 1b study (NCT02431208) evaluated the safety and efficacy of the anti-programmed death-ligand 1 monoclonal antibody atezolizumab (Atezo) alone or in combination with the standard of care (SoC) treatments lenalidomide (Len) or pomalidomide (Pom) and/or daratumumab (Dara) in patients with R/R MM. Study endpoints included incidence of adverse events (AEs) and overall response rate (ORR). A novel …

The Experiences Of Uncertainty Amongst Musculoskeletal Physiotherapists In First Contact Practitioner Roles Within Primary Care, Simon Ingram, Robert Stenner, Sue May

School of Health Professions

Aim: The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of uncertainty amongst Musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners working in primary care.Background: The Musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioner role involves advanced physiotherapists providing an alternative to the GP by acting as first point of contact for people presenting to primary care with musculoskeletal conditions. Limited research into the role exists but the first-contact aspect, clinical complexity and time pressures are deemed to contribute to uncertainty within the role.Method: A qualitative research design was undertaken using a hermeneutic interpretative phenomenological approach. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with subsequent thematic analysis of …

Walking Off-Trail In National Parks: Monkey See Monkey Do, Edmund Goh

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to embrace the pro-environmental construct in predicting visitor off-trail behavioral intentions at national parks. Quantitative questionnaire items were developed through an elicitation study and empirically tested among 325 respondents. Empirical results revealed overall predictive variance of 21.7 percent (R²) in predicting visitor off-trail intentions. Behavioral beliefs predicted most of behavioral intentions followed by normative beliefs. The contribution of control beliefs and pro-environmental values had the weakest predictive power. Among the behavioral beliefs, visitors had the strongest belief that walking off the trails would lead to a shorter route. Friends …

Genome-Wide Analysis Of Motor Progression In Parkinson Disease, Carrasco A Martínez, R Real, M Lawton, Reynolds R Hertfelder, M Tan, L Wu, N Williams, C Carroll, J-C Corvol, M Hu, D Grosset, J Hardy, M Ryten, Y Ben-Shlomo, M Shoai, Hr Morris

Peninsula Medical School

Background and Objectives The genetic basis of Parkinson disease (PD) motor progression is largely unknown. Previous studies of the genetics of PD progression have included small cohorts and shown a limited overlap with genetic PD risk factors from case-control studies. Here, we have studied genomic variation associated with PD motor severity and early-stage progression in large longitudinal cohorts to help to define the biology of PD progression and potential new drug targets. Methods We performed a GWAS meta-analysis of early PD motor severity and progression up to 3 years from study entry. We used linear mixed-effect models with additive effects, …

National Study Of Nafld Management Identifies Variation In Delivery Of Care In The Uk Between 2019 To 2022, Wenhao Li, David Sheridan, Stuart Mcpherson, William Alazawi, Kush Abeysekera, Tom Marjot, Paul Brennan, Sara Mahgoub, Tessa Cacciottolo, Theresa Hydes, Tim Hardy, Gio Mcginty, Oliver Tavabie, Jennifer Cathcart, Chirantha Premathilaka, Ashis Mukhopadhya, Arshiya Bhat, Shahnaz Begum, Bashar Abushaban, Meha Bhuva, Sophie Sinclair, Damien Leith, Cullen Mcculloch, Joanna Leithead, Richard Fox, Mh Shah, Eugene Campbell, Edward Brown, Dina Mansour, F Shah, Michael Allison, Jonathan Chan, Victoria Roberts, Gautham Appanna, Mandour Omer Mandour, Georgina Slee, Vicki Wong, Sreelakshmi Kotha, Katrina Pekarska, Richard Parker, Cyril Sieberhagen, Thomas Ngan, Esra Asilmaz, Hamish Miller, Jeremy Cobbold, Dom Crocombe, Manolis Tsochatzis, Sudeep Tanwar, Aruna Dias, Gurmit Singh, S Agrawal, P Chhabra, A Gurung, R Veettil, Rd Abeles, D Chatterjee, M Carbonell, Z Mohamed, A El-Sayed, A Johnson, Damien Leith, S Barclay, K Kelly, J Munonye, D Coates, O Bamidele, T Johnston, D Samuel, B Ball, R Arscott-Samuel, P Hams, M Armstrong, A Elkhol, K Shailesh, V Bains, P Manousou, T Gupta, S Than, E Unitt, V Gordon, A Wakefield, S Gilchrist, I Cozma, S Saeed, S Umrani, K Olsen

Peninsula Medical School

Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with liver and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recently published NAFLD Quality Standards include 11 key performance indicators (KPIs) of good clinical care. This national study, endorsed by British Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL) and British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG), aimed to benchmark NAFLD care in UK hospitals against these KPIs. Methods: This study included all new patients with NAFLD reviewed in the outpatient clinic in the months of March 2019 and March 2022. Participating UK hospitals self-registered for the study through BASL/BSG. KPI outcomes were compared using …

Quality Standards For The Management Of Alcohol-Related Liver Disease: Consensus Recommendations From The British Association For The Study Of The Liver And British Society Of Gastroenterology Arld Special Interest Group, Richard Parker, Michael Allison, Seonaid Anderson, Richard Aspinall, Sara Bardell, Vikram Bains, Ryan Buchanan, Lynsey Corless, Ian Davidson, Pauline Dundas, Jeff Fernandez, Ewan Forrest, Erica Forster, Dennis Freshwater, Ruth Gailer, Robert Goldin, Vanessa Hebditch, Steve Hood, Arron Jones, Victoria Lavers, Deborah Lindsay, James Maurice, Joanne Mcdonagh, Sarah Morgan, Tania Nurun, Christopher Oldroyd, Elizabeth Oxley, Sally Pannifex, Graham Parsons, Thomas Phillips, Nicole Rainford, Neil Rajoriya, Paul Richardson, J. Ryan, Joanne Sayer, Mandy Smith, Ankur Srivastava, Emma Stennett, Jennifer Towey, Roya Vaziri, Ian Webzell, Andrew Wellstead, Ashwin Dhanda, Steven Masson

Peninsula Medical School

Objective Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is the most common cause of liver-related ill health and liver-related deaths in the UK, and deaths from ALD have doubled in the last decade. The management of ALD requires treatment of both liver disease and alcohol use; this necessitates effective and constructive multidisciplinary working. To support this, we have developed quality standard recommendations for the management of ALD, based on evidence and consensus expert opinion, with the aim of improving patient care. Design A multidisciplinary group of experts from the British Association for the Study of the Liver and British Society of Gastroenterology ALD …

Motivational Support Intervention To Reduce Smoking And Increase Physical Activity In Smokers Not Ready To Quit: The Tars Rct, Adrian H. Taylor, Tom P. Thompson, Adam Streeter, Jade Chynoweth, Tristan Snowsill, Wendy Ingram, Michael Ussher, Paul Aveyard, Rachael L. Murray, Tess Harris, Colin Green, Jane Horrell, Lynne Callaghan, Colin J. Greaves, Lisa Price, Lucy Cartwright, Jonny Wilks, S Campbell, Dan Preece, Siobhan Creanor

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Strategies Are Needed To Support People With Alcohol Use Disorder And Alcohol-Related Liver Disease To Take Part In Randomised Clinical Trials: Results From The Mirage Pilot Trial Of Functional Imagery Training, A Dhanda, V Allgar, J Andrade, L Callaghan, B Hudson, W Ingram, A King, V Lavers, J Lomax, A Mccune, C Musicha, R Parker, C Rollinson, S Creanor

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Versus Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement In Dialysis-Dependent Patients: A Meta-Analysis, Samuel Burton, Alexander Reynolds, Nicola King, Amit Modi, Sanjay Asopa

School of Biomedical Sciences

Objectives This meta-analysis aims to compare the clinical outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) versus aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic stenosis in dialysis-dependent patients. Methods Literature searches employed PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Embase to identify relevant studies. Bias-treated data were prioritized, isolated and pooled for analysis; raw data were utilized where bias-treated data were unavailable. Outcomes were analysed to assess for study data crossover. Results Literature search identified 10 retrospective studies; following data source analysis, five studies were included. Upon pooling of bias-treated data, TAVI was significantly favoured in early mortality [odds ratio (OR), 0.42; …

Assessing The Efficacy Of A Novel Galactooligosaccharide To Promote Fish Health And Robustness, Lucy May Sykes

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Aquaculture has been steadily increasing global production; however, there remains a progressively greater demand for sustainable sources of protein, whilst the prevalence of disease represents a major constraint to industry growth. Feed additives are gaining traction as useful tools to help combat disease and promote health, and previous research has documented benefits to the mucosal surfaces and microbial communities within a range of teleost species. Three experimental in vivo feeding trials were undertaken using a range of in-depth analyses, such as growth performance, haematology, immunology, intestinal histology, intestinal gene expression and intestinal bacterial 16S rRNA sequence libraries. Studies were conducted …

The Role Of Circadian Entrainment In Rice Blast Disease, Ciaran Griffin

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

A circadian clock is present in some capacity in almost all forms of life, and is useful for a wide array of traits, but crucially allows organisms to predict future conditions and adapt their behaviour to synchronise with, and thrive under, their dynamic environment. Accordingly, plant environmental stress responses are gated in a circadian manner, including that for pathogenic defence and immunity. Comparatively less work has been carried out on the plant pathogens, but there are increasing reports of pathogens capable of rhythmically altering their behaviour and virulence-related traits. Magnaporthe oryzae, the fungal pathogen responsible for the destruction of enough …

Management Of Non-Indigenous Species In The Mediterranean Sea With An Emphasis On Lionfish (Pterois Miles), Periklis Kleitou

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

The 21st century faces a global challenge; understanding the ecosystem changes and regulating fish resources is essential to provide food for humankind and to preserve the oceans. Marine ecosystems are being increasingly altered because of global, regional, and anthropogenic stressors such as climate change, Non-Indigenous Species (NIS), pollution, fisheries, eutrophication, and habitat loss. In an era of escalating transformations of marine ecosystems, the Mediterranean Sea is recognized as a hotspot of global biotic and abiotic changes. In recent decades, human-mediated introductions of NIS have notably reshaped the marine ecological structures and processes of the region. The Suez Canal (constructed in …

Microplastic Ingestion In Invertebrates Within Rockpool Communities, Abigail Outred

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Microplastics (<5 mm) are abundant across the world in the marine environment and so it is vital that we gain further understanding of their fate and their possible impacts on marine life. Due to their size, microplastics can interact with small marine organisms which are part of the lower trophic levels and the main interaction with these plastics is ingestion. Chemical characteristics and changes to the plastic properties, due to, for example, adsorbed chemicals and colonisation of biofilms, may affect how readily plastics are ingested. Research into the interactions of a range of organisms with microplastics enables for a better understanding of how they could be taken in, impact the organism as well as predict potential trophic transfer. This in turn could aid in predicting bigger impacts in the marine environment and on humans themselves. Rockpools are a key environment and nursery for many important marine and intertidal species, particularly those that we rely on commercially, such as crab species. This study exposed three key rockpool species of three feeding types - Beadlet anemone (Actinia equina), common prawn (Palaemon serratus), Thick top shell (Phorcus lineatus) to nylon fibres within ex-situ mesocosms. These species represent three feeding types found in a rockpool community – Suspension feeding, Filter feeding of the whole water column and deposit feeding. The organisms were exposed to either biofouled or non-biofouled, blue, black, red, or white in colour and 0.5 mm or 2 mm microfibres for six hours. This was undertaken when individuals were individually housed as single species, as well as a mixed community with a representative of all three species. Once biofouling was complete, dissection to observe the digestive tract was undertaken and then an alkaline digest was completed to obtain evidence of retention other than in the digestive tract. Beadlet anemones ingested the most microfibres and thick top shell the least. This study shows that overall, biofouled fibres are significantly more likely to be ingested than 6 that of non-biofouled (H(1)= 16.780 , p<0.001). Some ingestion and interaction colour patterns were found – black in anemones and shrimp ((H(1)= 6.224 , p=0.013 and (H(1)= 6.008 , p=0.014) and black (H(1)= 12.270 , p=0.007) and white in shrimp (H(1)= 8.143 , p=0.043). This could possibly be to do with the dye chemicals on the plastics rather than visual cues. The 0.5mm fibres were ingested and retained more than 2mm (H(1)= 20.924 , p<0.001). Thick top shells were the only organism with a difference between housing with more microfibres ingested/retained when housed individually than when housed in a mixed community. This study provides further evidence of the potential ingestion and retention of microplastics in a rockpool setting and therefore highlights the potential impact on these organisms and predator species. This may likely cause negative impacts within that rockpool as well as present a route for microfibres to expose other intertidal organisms to microfibres, particularly as the three study organisms are prey animals to many other species.

Diversity, Duplication, And Genomic Organization Of Homeobox Genes In Lepidoptera, Peter O. Mulhair, Liam Crowley, Douglas H. Boyes, Amber Harper, Ot Lewis, Pwh Holland

More Faculty of Science and Engineering Research

Homeobox genes encode transcription factors with essential roles in patterning and cell fate in developing animal embryos. Many homeobox genes, including Hox and NK genes, are arranged in gene clusters, a feature likely related to transcriptional control. Sparse taxon sampling and fragmentary genome assemblies mean that little is known about the dynamics of homeobox gene evolution across Lepidoptera or about how changes in homeobox gene number and organization relate to diversity in this large order of insects. Here we analyze an extensive data set of high-quality genomes to characterize the number and organization of all homeobox genes in 123 species …

An Organotypic Oral Mucosal Infection Model To Study Host-Pathogen Interactions, Samantha J. Gould, Andrew D. Foey, Vehid M. Salih

School of Biomedical Sciences

Early in vitro oral mucosal infection models (OMMs) failed to consider the suitability of the model environment to represent the host immune response. Denture stomatitis (DS) is mediated by Candida albicans, but the role of Staphylococcus aureus remains uncertain. A collagen hydrogel-based OMM containing HaCaT and HGF cell types was developed, characterised and employed to study of tissue invasion and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in response to pathogens. Models formed a robust epithelium. Despite their inflammatory baseline, 24-h infection with C. albicans, and/or S. aureus led to tissue invasion, and significantly upregulated IL-6 and IL-8 production by OMMs when compared to …

Status Of Pelagic Habitats Within The Eu-Marine Strategy Framework Directive: Proposals For Improving Consistency And Representativeness Of The Assessment, C Magliozzi, M Palma, J-N Druon, A Palialexis, Abigail Mcquatters-Gollop, V Ioanna, G-Q Rafael, G Elena, H Birgit, B Laura, Al Felipe

More Faculty of Science and Engineering Research

Anthropogenic activities have transformed the pelagic habitat in the last decades with profound implications for its essential functions. While the EU-Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC and the Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848 have set criteria and methodological standards for the assessment and determination of Good Environmental Status (GES) for pelagic habitats in EU waters, there is strong evidence that Member States have not yet harmonized the pelagic GES assessment across EU marine waters. Today, pelagic habitats are assessed by evaluating whether good status is achieved by each of the pelagic indicators, but this approach fails to observe the high variability of …

The Effects Of Husbandry On Reproductive Output And Behaviour In Captive Saddle-Billed Storks (Ephippiorhynchus Senegalensis), Arlin Douglas Slater

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Zoos are required to understand specific husbandry requirements of animals in captivity, and there have been significant developments in husbandry research for captive breeding programmes. However, there is no ‘one size fits all’ and in some species, complications have led to low success and failure in breeding. Saddle-billed stork are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, with low productivity reported in AZA and EAZA populations. Reproductive output, breeding behaviour and interspecific behaviour were measured in saddle-billed storks within European and American zoological institutions using a questionnaire. The effects of birth origin, enclosure provision, nesting provision and wing condition on reproductive …

What’S Really Down The Hospital Plughole?, J. Butler, M. Upton

School of Biomedical Sciences

As reported in recent articles in this journal and others, hospital wastewater plumbing systems (WPS) are increasingly being highlighted as an important source of nosocomial infections [ [1] , [2] ]. Potential interventions to mitigate these risks include changes in patient management through to engineering solutions and modifications to plumbing infrastructure, with recent calls to improve building guidance to mitigate the impact of suboptimal designs on patients and healthcare staff [ [3] ]. The WPS is a complex interlinked system of pipework that is intermittently filled with water containing a multitude of solutes and solids. The interface between this system …

Nutrient Input In The Chagos Archipelago - The Controlling Mechanisms Of Chlorophyll-A Distribution, Harvey Cairns

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Phytoplankton primary productivity is vital in supporting the marine trophic system, and an understanding of the nutrient sources facilitating this is critical for informing conservation management. Using a combination of in situ and remotely sensed data, we assess the contributions of different nutrient sources and corresponding productivity in a tropical island ecosystem free from anthropogenic nutrient pollution at varying temporal scales. Beyond the near-shore, annual mean normalised fluorescence line height (nFLH, a proxy for chlorophyll-a concentration) was 27% higher in shallow water (approx. 20m) than deep water (>5000m), demonstrating a chlorophyll-a enhancement in shallow waters. Linear regression revealed a …

The Macroinvertebrate Fauna Of Augmented River Gravels: Community Composition And Function, Benjamin James Green

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Restoration of riverine ecosystems is a key aspect of river management, driven by concerns over water sustainability and declining biodiversity caused by anthropogenic and environmental perturbations. Anthropogenic perturbations include agricultural sedimentation and nutrient input, deforestation, and river regulation including damming, which disturbs longitudinal, lateral and vertical connectivity. Restoring perturbed riverine systems is costly, and many such restorations are ineffective, with restored systems continuing to degrade. Gravel augmentation, the adding of in-stream gravels, focusses mainly on improving habitat for salmonids, and is one method frequently used to mitigate the impacts of damming. The impact of these augmentations on riverine macroinvertebrates and …

Air Quality And Mental Health: Evidence, Challenges And Future Directions, Kamaldeep Bhui, Joanne B. Newbury, Rachel M. Latham, Marcella Ucci, Zaheer A. Nasir, Briony Turner, Catherine O'Leary, Helen L. Fisher, Emma Marczylo, Philippa Douglas, Stephen Stansfeld, Simon K. Jackson, Sean Tyrrel, Andrey Rzhetsky, Rob Kinnersley, Prashant Kumar, Caroline Duchaine, Frederic Coulon

School of Biomedical Sciences

Background Poor air quality is associated with poor health. Little attention is given to the complex array of environmental exposures and air pollutants that affect mental health during the life course. Aims We gather interdisciplinary expertise and knowledge across the air pollution and mental health fields. We seek to propose future research priorities and how to address them. Method Through a rapid narrative review, we summarise the key scientific findings, knowledge gaps and methodological challenges. Results There is emerging evidence of associations between poor air quality, both indoors and outdoors, and poor mental health more generally, as well as specific …

What Can State Medical Boards Do To Effectively Address Serious Ethical Violations?, Tristan Mcintosh, Elizabeth Pendo, Heidi A Walsh, Kari A Baldwin, Patricia King, Emily E Anderson, Catherine V Caldicott, Jeffrey D Carter, Sandra H Johnson, Katherine Mathews, William A Norcross, Dana C Shaffer, James M Dubois

2020-Current year OA Pubs

State Medical Boards (SMBs) can take severe disciplinary actions (e.g., license revocation or suspension) against physicians who commit egregious wrongdoing in order to protect the public. However, there is noteworthy variability in the extent to which SMBs impose severe disciplinary action. In this manuscript, we present and synthesize a subset of 11 recommendations based on findings from our team's larger consensus-building project that identified a list of 56 policies and legal provisions SMBs can use to better protect patients from egregious wrongdoing by physicians.

Pleistocene Depositional Environments On The Eastern Ross Sea Continental Slope, Antarctica, Maxine Valentina King

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

In 2018, International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 374 drilled a 208.28 m-thick sequence of Plio-Pleistocene sediments on the Eastern Ross Sea continental slope, Antarctica (Hole U1525A). In this thesis, sediments from Hole U1525A are used to reconstruct the depositional environment on the slope since 2.4 Ma, focusing on characterising instances of West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) extension to the continental margin. Late Pleistocene Ross Sea Fan deposits in Hole U1525A are also studied to identify provenance changes that may link to changing ice stream dynamics. Core images, grain size, X-ray fluorescence and physical properties datasets were used from the upper …

Phenomics: An Integrative Approach To Comparative Developmental Physiology, James Mccoy

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Phenomics, the high-throughput acquisition of phenotypic data at the scale of the whole organism, has led to considerable advancements in plant biology and medicine, yet applications within animal environmental physiology and evolutionary biology are rare. The main aim of this thesis is to understand what phenomics can contribute to our understanding of Comparative Developmental Physiology (CDP), in terms of how environmental and evolutionary change affects the development of physiological function in aquatic embryos. Additionally, I aim to understand the consequences of changes in high-dimensional phenotyping methods used throughout the thesis within the context of embryonic life history. To achieve this, …

Minute Moss Beetles In The Southern Hemisphere: Molecular Phylogeny, Historical Biogeography And Habitat Shifts (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae), David T. Bilton, Ma Jaech, Ignacio Ribera, Emmanuel F.A. Toussaint

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Minute moss beetles (Hydraenidae) are one of the most speciose and widespread families of aquatic Coleoptera, with an estimated 4000 extant species, found in the majority of aquatic habitats from coastal rock pools to mountain streams and from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic islands. Molecular phylogenetic works have improved our understanding of the evolutionary history of the megadiverse Hydraena, Limnebius and Ochthebius in recent years, but most genera in the family have not yet been included in any phylogenetic analyses, particularly most of those which are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. Using a multimarker molecular matrix, sampling over 40% …

The Impact Of Myosteatosis On Outcomes Following Surgery For Gastrointestinal Malignancy: A Meta-Analysis, A Maccormick, A Streeter, M Puckett, S Aroori

Peninsula Medical School

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this review was to evaluate the impact of preoperative myosteatosis on long-term outcomes following surgery for gastrointestinal malignancy.

METHODS: We conducted a systematic search of the electronic information sources, including PubMed MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), CINAHL and AMED. Studies were included if they reported the impact of preoperatively defined myosteatosis, or a similar term, on long-term survival outcomes following surgery for gastrointestinal malignancy. A subgroup analysis was performed for those studies reporting outcomes for colorectal cancer patients only.

FINDINGS: Thirty-nine full-text articles were reviewed for inclusion, with 19 being retained after …

The Influence Of Migratory Distance On Atlantic Salmon Salmo Salar Population Responses To Interannual Variation In Sea Surface Temperature., Joshua Cook

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

As a species, the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar is undergoing a range wide population decline. In the last 40 years alone, wild stocks have specifically declined due to continuing human pressures and global climate change. During the marine life stages, North Atlantic Sea surface temperatures (SST) have specifically impacted stocks, inducing range wide declines in abundance and morphometrics as temperature rises. Recent studies have indicated that SST’s effects on S. salar are more severe at the southernmost ranges, however we lack an explanation for why this may be the case. Acknowledging this trend, we hypothesise that while declines in returning …

Embedding Health And Wellbeing Opportunities For People Experiencing Homelessness In A Wider Support System, M. Paisi, L. Withers, J. Erwin, J. Horrell, R. Witton, J. Shawe, R. Byng

School of Nursing and Midwifery

IntroductionHomelessness impacts negatively on health, wellbeing and life expectancy. People experiencing homelessness are likely to suffer physical and mental health problems, be heavy users of emergency services, and die 30 years earlier than the general population.1–3 Their severe and multiple disadvantages raise personal and institutional barriers to using health, social and housing services.4In late 2021, a grass-roots initiative in Plymouth began offering a Saturday morning drop-in service for rough sleepers and those in emergency accommodation. The service responded to the bleakness, loneliness and lack of support imposed by Monday-Friday service patterns. This effort was strengthened in February 2022 by a …

Evaluation Of A Complex Intervention For Prisoners With Common Mental Health Problems, Near To And After Release: The Engager Randomised Controlled Trial, Richard Byng, Tim Kirkpatrick, Charlotte Lennox, Fiona C. Warren, Rob Anderson, Sarah Louise Brand, Lynne Callaghan, Lauren Carroll, Graham Durcan, Laura Gill, Sara Goodier, Jonathan Graham, Rebecca Greer, Mark Haddad, Tirril Harris, William Henley, Rachael Hunter, Sarah Leonard, Mike Maguire, Susan Michie, Christabel Owens, Mark Pearson, Cath Quinn, Sarah Rybczynska-Bunt, Caroline Stevenson, Amy Stewart, Alex Stirzaker, Roxanne Todd, Florian Walter, Lauren Weston, Nat Wright, Rod S. Taylor, Jenny Shaw

Peninsula Medical School

Background Many male prisoners have significant mental health problems, including anxiety and depression. High proportions struggle with homelessness and substance misuse. Aims This study aims to evaluate whether the Engager intervention improves mental health outcomes following release. Method The design is a parallel randomised superiority trial that was conducted in the North West and South West of England (ISRCTN11707331). Men serving a prison sentence of 2 years or less were individually allocated 1:1 to either the intervention (Engager plus usual care) or usual care alone. Engager included psychological and practical support in prison, on release and for 3–5 months in …

Inhibition Of Yap/Taz-Driven Tead Activity Prevents Growth Of Nf2-Null Schwannoma And Meningioma, Liyam Laraba, Lily Hillson, Julio Grimm De Guibert, Amy Hewitt, Maisie R Jaques, Tracy T Tang, Leonard Post, Emanuela Ercolano, Ganesha Rai, Shyh-Ming Yang, Daniel J Jagger, Waldemar Woznica, Philip Edwards, Aditya G Shivane, C Oliver Hanemann, David B Parkinson

Peninsula Medical School

Schwannoma tumours typically arise on the eighth cranial nerve and are mostly caused by loss of the tumour suppressor Merlin (NF2). There are no approved chemotherapies for these tumours and the surgical removal of the tumour carries a high risk of damage to the eighth or other close cranial nerve tissue. New treatments for schwannoma and other NF2-null tumours such as meningioma are urgently required. Using a combination of human primary tumour cells and mouse models of schwannoma, we have examined the role of the Hippo signalling pathway in driving tumour cell growth. Using both genetic ablation of the Hippo …