To evaluate the effectiveness of a radio campaign involving serial 10-minute drama episodes, 10-minute on air discussion of each episode by trained community health workers and 30-minute phone-ins from listeners in improving mothers’ nutrition- and health-related attitudes (HNRAs) and children’s minimum acceptable diet (MAD).

A two-arm quasi-experimental trial with a pre-post design was used to quantify the effect of a radio campaign on nutrition before and immediately after the 6-month intervention. Difference-in-difference (DID) analysis was performed to assess the intervention’s effect.

Saboba district (intervention) and Central Gonja (comparison district) of northern region of Ghana.

At baseline, a total of 598 mothers with children aged 6–22 months were randomly selected from the intervention (n 298) and control (n 300) districts. At endline (6 months post-intervention), 252 mother–child dyads in the intervention district and 275 mother–child dyads in the control district were followed up.

The radio campaign was significantly and positively associated with a change in health- and nutrition-related attitudes (HNRA) over time, with DID in mean attitudes significantly improving more over time in the intervention district than the control (DID = 1·398, P < 0·001). Also, the prevalence of MAD over time in the intervention district was significantly higher than the control district (DID = 16·1 percentage points, P = 0·02) in the presence of food insecurity.

The study indicates that a radio campaign on nutrition is associated with improved mothers’ HNRA and children’s MAD. Communication interventions on child nutrition targeting low-resource settings should consider this innovative approach.

To assess the face and content validity of artificial temporal bone dissection in surgical training in the UK.

Expert and non-expert groups participated in artificial temporal bone dissection at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK. Face and content validity were assessed by a validated post-dissection questionnaire.

The median content validity score was 34 out of 35 (interquartile range 32.00–35.00). Mean face validity score compared to human was 45.76 out of 65 (95 per cent CI 42.57–48.94). Face validity compared to cadaveric models demonstrated equivalence (95 per cent CI 25.30–30.70, crossing equivalence value 27.00). Experts rated face validity less favourably than non-experts (p = 0.012 and 0.042, respectively). Content validity was equivalent between experts and non-experts (p = 0.052). There were no significant differences in total content (p = 0.606) and face validity (p = 0.133, p = 0.105) scores between different artificial bones.

The high content and face validity suggests ENT training programs should consider formally incorporating artificial models into mastoid surgery training pathways.

To measure SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid (anti-N) antibody seropositivity among healthcare personnel (HCP) without a history of COVID-19 and to identify HCP characteristics associated with seropositivity.

Prospective cohort study from September 22, 2020, to March 3, 2022.

A tertiary care academic medical center.

727 HCP without prior positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing were enrolled; 559 HCP successfully completed follow-up.

At enrollment and follow-up 1–6 months later, HCP underwent SARS-CoV-2 anti-N testing and were surveyed on demographics, employment information, vaccination status, and COVID-19 symptoms and exposures.

Of 727 HCP enrolled, 27 (3.7%) had a positive SARS-CoV-2 anti-N test at enrollment. Seropositive HCPs were more likely to have a household exposure to COVID-19 in the past 30 days (OR 7.92, 95% CI 2.44–25.73), to have had an illness thought to be COVID-19 (4.31, 1.94–9.57), or to work with COVID-19 patients more than half the time (2.09, 0.94–4.77). Among 559 HCP who followed-up, 52 (9.3%) had a positive SARS-CoV-2 anti-N antibody test result. Seropositivity at follow-up was associated with community/household exposures to COVID-19 within the past 30 days (9.50, 5.02–17.96; 2.90, 1.31–6.44), having an illness thought to be COVID-19 (8.24, 4.44–15.29), and working with COVID-19 patients more than half the time (1.50, 0.80–2.78).

Among HCP without prior positive SARS-CoV-2 testing, SARS-CoV-2 anti-N seropositivity was comparable to that of the general population and was associated with COVID-19 symptomatology and both occupational and non-occupational exposures to COVID-19.

Understanding characteristics of healthcare personnel (HCP) with SARS-CoV-2 infection supports the development and prioritization of interventions to protect this important workforce. We report detailed characteristics of HCP who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from April 20, 2020 through December 31, 2021.

CDC collaborated with Emerging Infections Program sites in 10 states to interview HCP with SARS-CoV-2 infection (case-HCP) about their demographics, underlying medical conditions, healthcare roles, exposures, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and COVID-19 vaccination status. We grouped case-HCP by healthcare role. To describe residential social vulnerability, we merged geocoded HCP residential addresses with CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) values at the census tract level. We defined highest and lowest SVI quartiles as high and low social vulnerability, respectively.

Our analysis included 7,531 case-HCP. Most case-HCP with roles as certified nursing assistant (CNA) (444, 61.3%), medical assistant (252, 65.3%), or home healthcare worker (HHW) (225, 59.5%) reported their race and ethnicity as either non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic. More than one third of HHWs (166, 45.2%), CNAs (283, 41.7%), and medical assistants (138, 37.9%) reported a residential address in the high social vulnerability category. The proportion of case-HCP who reported using recommended PPE at all times when caring for patients with COVID-19 was lowest among HHWs compared with other roles.

To mitigate SARS-CoV-2 infection risk in healthcare settings, infection prevention, and control interventions should be specific to HCP roles and educational backgrounds. Additional interventions are needed to address high social vulnerability among HHWs, CNAs, and medical assistants.

In England in 2021, an estimated 274 000 people were homeless on a given night. It has long been recognised that physical and mental health of people who are homeless is poorer than for people who are housed. There are few peer-reviewed studies to inform health and social care for depression or anxiety among homeless adults in this setting.

To measure the symptoms of depression and anxiety among adults who are homeless and who have difficulty accessing healthcare, and to describe distribution of symptoms across sociodemographic, social vulnerability and health-related characteristics.

We completed structured questionnaires with 311 adults who were homeless and who had difficulty accessing healthcare in London, UK, between August and December 2021. We measured anxiety and depression symptoms using the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) score. We compared median PHQ-4 scores across strata of the sociodemographic, social vulnerability and health-related characteristics, and tested for associations using the Kruskal–Wallis test.

The median PHQ-4 score was 8 out of 12, and 40.2% had scores suggesting high clinical need. Although PHQ-4 scores were consistently high across a range of socioeconomic, social vulnerability and health-related characteristics, they were positively associated with: young age; food insecurity; recent and historic abuse; joint, bone or muscle problems; and frequency of marijuana use. The most common (60%) barrier to accessing healthcare related to transportation.

Adults who are homeless and have difficulty accessing healthcare have high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. Our findings support consideration of population-level, multisectoral intervention.

The timing of tracheostomy for intensive care unit patients is controversial, with conflicting findings on early versus late tracheostomy.

Patients undergoing tracheostomy from 2001through 2012 were identified from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-III database. Early tracheostomy was defined as less than the 25th percentile of time from intensive care unit admission to tracheostomy (time to tracheostomy). Statistical analysis for tracheostomy timing on intensive care unit length of stay and mortality were conducted.

Of the 1,566 patients that were included, patients with early tracheostomy had shorter intensive care unit length of stay (27.32 vs 12.55 days, p < 0.001) and lower mortality (12.9 per cent vs 9.0 per cent, p = 0.039). Multivariate logistic regression analysis found an association between increasing time to tracheostomy and mortality (odds ratio: 1.029, 95 per cent confidence interval 1.007–1.051, p = 0.009).

Our analysis revealed that patients with early tracheostomy were more likely to have shorter intensive care unit lengths of stay and lower mortality. Our data suggest that early tracheostomy should be given strong consideration in appropriately selected patients.

Conventional pharmacological approaches have limited effectiveness for schizophrenia. There is interest in the application of oxytocin, which is involved in social cognition. Clinical trials have yielded mixed results, with a gap in understanding neural mechanisms.

To evaluate the behavioural impact of oxytocin administration on a social learning task in individuals with schizophrenia, and elucidate any differential neural activity produced.

We recruited 20 clinically stable right-handed men diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. In a double-blind cross-over randomised controlled study, 40 IU of oxytocin or placebo were administered before functional magnetic resonance imaging of participants playing a multi-round economic exchange game of trust. Participants had the role of investors (investment trials) receiving repayment on their investments (repayment trials), playing one session against a computer and a second against a player believed to be human.

During investment trials, oxytocin increased neural signalling in the right lateral parietal cortex for both human and computer player trials, and attenuated signalling in the right insula for human player trials. For repayment trials, oxytocin elicited signal increases in left insula and left ventral caudate, and a signal decrease in right amygdala during the human player trials; conversely it resulted in right dorsal caudate activation during the computer player trials. We did not find a significant change in behavioural performance associated with oxytocin administration, or any associations with symptoms.

During a social learning task oxytocin modulates cortical and limbic substrates of the reward-processing network. These perturbations can be putatively linked to the pathoaetiology of schizophrenia.

Little is known about mental health problems of children and young people (CYP) involved with public and private law family court proceedings, and how these CYP fare compared to those not involved in these significant disruptions to family life.

This study examined records of depression/anxiety in CYP involved in public and private law proceedings using linked population-level data across Wales.

Retrospective e-cohort study. We calculated the incidence of primary-care-recorded depression/anxiety among CYP involved in these proceedings and in a comparison group, using Poisson regression. Depression/anxiety outcomes following proceedings were evaluated using pairwise Cox regression, with age- and gender-matched controls of CYP who had no involvement with the courts.

CYP in the public group had twice the risk of depression (adjusted incidence rate ratio aIRR = 2.2; 95% CI 1.9–2.6) and 20% higher risk of anxiety (aIRR = 1.2; 95% CI 1.0–1.5) relative to the comparison group. The private group had 60% higher risk of depression (aIRR = 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.7) and 30% higher risk of anxiety (aIRR = 1.3; 95% CI 1.2–1.4). Following private law proceedings, CYP were more likely to have depression (hazard ratio HR = 1.9; 95% CI 1.7–2.1), and anxiety (HR = 1.4; 95% CI 1.2–1.6) than the control group. Following public proceedings, CYP were more likely to have depression (HR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.7–2.5). Incidence of anxiety or depression following court proceedings was around 4%.

Findings highlight the vulnerability of CYP involved in family court proceedings and increased risk of depression and anxiety. Schools, health professionals, social and family support workers have a role to play in identifying needs and ensuring CYP receive appropriate support before, during and after proceedings.