Variation between general practices in the rate of consultations for musculoskeletal pain conditions may signal important differences in access to primary care, perceived usefulness, or available alternative sources of care; however, it might also just reflect differences in underlying ‘need’ between practices’ registered populations. In a study of 30 general practices in Staffordshire, we calculated the proportion of adults consulting for a musculoskeletal pain condition, then examined this in relation to selected practice and population characteristics, including the estimated prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal problems and chronic pain in each practices’ registered population. Between September 2021 and July 2022, 18,388 adults were consulted for a musculoskeletal pain condition. After controlling for length of recruitment, time of year, and age-sex structure, the proportion consulting varied up to two-fold between practices but was not strongly associated with the prevalence of self-reported long-term musculoskeletal problems, chronic pain, and high-impact chronic pain.

The marketing of unhealthy foods has been implicated in poor diet and rising levels of obesity. Rapid developments in the digital food marketing ecosystem and associated research mean that contemporary review of the evidence is warranted. This preregistered (CRD420212337091)1 systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to provide an updated synthesis of the evidence for behavioural and health impacts of food marketing on both children and adults, using the 4Ps framework (Promotion, Product, Price, Place). Ten databases were searched from 2014 to 2021 for primary data articles of quantitative or mixed design, reporting on one or more outcome of interest following food marketing exposure compared with a relevant control. Reviews, abstracts, letters/editorials and qualitative studies were excluded. Eighty-two studies were included in the narrative review and twenty-three in the meta-analyses. Study quality (RoB2/Newcastle–Ottawa scale) was mixed. Studies examined ‘promotion’ (n 55), ‘product’ (n 17), ‘price’ (n 15) and ‘place’ (n 2) (some > 1 category). There is evidence of impacts of food marketing in multiple media and settings on outcomes, including increased purchase intention, purchase requests, purchase, preference, choice, and consumption in children and adults. Meta-analysis demonstrated a significant impact of food marketing on increased choice of unhealthy foods (OR = 2·45 (95 % CI 1·41, 4·27), Z = 3·18, P = 0·002, I2 = 93·1 %) and increased food consumption (standardised mean difference = 0·311 (95 % CI 0·185, 0·437), Z = 4·83, P < 0·001, I2 = 53·0 %). Evidence gaps were identified for the impact of brand-only and outdoor streetscape food marketing, and for data on the extent to which food marketing may contribute to health inequalities which, if available, would support UK and international public health policy development.

The UK’s Health and Care Act (2022; paused until 2025) includes a globally novel ban on paid-for online advertising of food and beverage products high in saturated fat, salt and sugar (HFSS), to address growing concerns about the scale of digital marketing and its impact in particular on children’s food and beverage preferences, purchases and consumption. This study aimed to understand the potential impact of the novel ban (as proposed in 2020) on specified forms of online HFSS advertising, through the lens of interdisciplinary expertise. We conducted semi-structured interviews via videoconference with eight purposively selected UK and global digital marketing, food and privacy experts. We identified deductive and inductive themes addressing the policy’s scope, design, implementation, monitoring and enforcement through iterative, consensual thematic analyses. Experts felt this novel ‘breakthrough’ policy has potential to substantially impact global marketing by establishing the principle of no HFSS advertising online to consumers of all ages, but they also identified substantive limitations that could potentially render it ‘entirely ineffective’, for example, the exclusion of common forms of digital marketing, especially brand marketing and marketing integrated within entertainment content; virtual/augmented reality, and ‘advertainment’ as particularly likely spaces for rapid growth of digital food marketing; and technical digital media issues that raise significant barriers to effective monitoring and compliance. Experts recommended well-defined regulations with strong enforcement mechanisms. These findings contribute insights for effective design and implementation of global initiatives to limit online HFSS food marketing, including the need for government regulations in place of voluntary industry restrictions.

Research on Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer diet has focused on the consumption of animals. Evidence for the use of plant foods is comparatively limited but is rapidly expanding. The authors present an analysis of carbonised macro-remains of processed plants from Franchthi Cave in the Aegean Basin and Shanidar Cave in the north-west Zagros Mountains. Microscopic examination of the charred food remains reveals the use of pounded pulses as a common ingredient in cooked plant foods. The results are discussed in the context of the regional archaeobotanical literature, leading the authors to argue that plants with bitter and astringent tastes were key ingredients of Palaeolithic cuisines in South-west Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Due to continuing pressures on the UK National Health Service’s mental health services, there has been increased interest in the development of brief psychological interventions (BPIs). These interventions are usually defined as including selected components of established psychological interventions, delivered over fewer sessions, and by staff with less specialised training (paraprofessionals). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based BPIs for anxiety and depression have been found to be helpful for clients with mild to moderate mental health problems. This project evaluates the introduction of BPIs for anxiety and depression in a secondary care adult mental health service, with clients experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulties. The service developed CBT-based manuals for anxiety (anxiety management) and depression (behavioural activation) BPIs. The BPIs were delivered by mental health workers without core therapeutic training, who were offered training and group supervision by psychologists in the team. Measures of anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), wellbeing (SWEMWBS) and functioning (WSAS) were completed at the start and end of treatment. The data reported from a 2-year period suggest that BPIs are associated with reductions in symptoms of anxiety and low mood, and improvements in wellbeing and functioning. Whilst this is a small-scale initial evaluation, the results are promising for the potential benefit of BPIs for clients in secondary care settings. Given that this new way of working has possible additional benefits such as improving access to psychological treatment and cost-effectiveness, further research in the area is warranted and encouraged.

It is a cliché of self-help advice that there are no problems, only opportunities. The rationale and actions of the BSHS in creating its Global Digital History of Science Festival may be a rare genuine confirmation of this mantra. The global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 meant that the society's usual annual conference – like everyone else's – had to be cancelled. Once the society decided to go digital, we had a hundred days to organize and deliver our first online festival. In the hope that this will help, inspire and warn colleagues around the world who are also trying to move online, we here detail the considerations, conversations and thinking behind the organizing team's decisions.

Distress intolerance has been suggested to be a maintaining factor in several mental health conditions. Distress tolerance skills training has been found to be beneficial in emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Short-term targeted interventions are increasingly being implemented in response to demand. This study investigates the efficacy of a distress tolerance brief psychological intervention (DT BPI) delivered by non-psychologists within an adult secondary care mental health service. Questionnaire data (pre and post) are reported from 43 participants who completed the intervention. Results suggest that the intervention was associated with significant improvements in distress tolerance, mood, anxiety and wellbeing. This indicates that a DT BPI can be effective when delivered by non-psychologists to real-world adult secondary care clients. The findings offer promising evidence that DT BPI could be a beneficial, cost-effective intervention and warrants further large-scale investigation.

Characterizing non-lethal damage within dry seeds may allow us to detect early signs of ageing and accurately predict longevity. We compared RNA degradation and viability loss in seeds exposed to stressful conditions to quantify relationships between degradation rates and stress intensity or duration. We subjected recently harvested (‘fresh’) ‘Williams 82’ soya bean seeds to moisture, temperature and oxidative stresses, and measured time to 50% viability (P50) and rate of RNA degradation, the former using standard germination assays and the latter using RNA Integrity Number (RIN). RIN values from fresh seeds were also compared with those from accessions of the same cultivar harvested in the 1980s and 1990s and stored in the refrigerator (5°C), freezer (−18°C) or in vapour above liquid nitrogen (−176°C). Rates of viability loss (P50−1) and RNA degradation (RIN⋅d−1) were highly correlated in soya bean seeds that were exposed to a broad range of temperatures [holding relative humidity (RH) constant at about 30%]. However, the correlation weakened when fresh seeds were maintained at high RH (holding temperature constant at 35°C) or exposed to oxidizing agents. Both P50−1 and RIN⋅d−1 parameters exhibited breaks in Arrhenius behaviour near 50°C, suggesting that constrained molecular mobility regulates degradation kinetics of dry systems. We conclude that the kinetics of ageing reactions at RH near 30% can be simulated by temperatures up to 50°C and that RNA degradation can indicate ageing prior to and independent of seed death.

In 2003, the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO ICH Convention) formalized provision for forms of heritage not solely rooted in the material world. This expanded the scope and accessibility of cultural heritage rights for communities and groups. To much commentary and critique, the United Kingdom (UK) infamously decided not to ratify the UNESCO ICH Convention. This article examines the implications of the UK’s decision not to ratify the Convention for the cultural heritage and human rights of an asylum-seeking group in Glasgow, Scotland, namely, the Glasgow Bajuni campaigners, members of a minority Somali clan. Based on participatory ethnographic fieldwork with the group and analysis of their asylum cases, this article makes two observations: first, that the UK’s absence from the Convention establishes a precedent in which other state actors (that is, immigration authorities) are emboldened to advance skepticism over matters involving intangible cultural heritage and, second, that despite this, limitations in current provisions in the UNESCO ICH Convention would provide the group with little additional protection than they currently have. Developing these observations, we critique current UK approaches to intangible cultural heritage as complicit in the maintenance of hierarchies and the border. Finally, we consider the extent to which the current provisions of the UNESCO ICH Convention might be improved to include migrant and asylum-seeking groups.

Depression and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are both thought to be accompanied by alterations in the subjective experience of environmental rewards. We evaluated responses in women to sweet, bitter and neutral tastes (juice, quinine and water): 29 with depression, 17 with BPD and 27 healthy controls. The BPD group gave lower pleasantness and higher disgust ratings for quinine and juice compared with the control group; the depression group did not differ significantly from the control group. Juice disgust ratings were related to self-disgust in BPD, suggesting close links between abnormal sensory processing and self-identity in BPD.

Computers are encountered increasingly in the clinical setting, including during aphasia rehabilitation. However, currently we do not know what people with aphasia think about using computers in therapy and daily life, or to what extent people with aphasia use computers in their everyday life. The present study explored: (1) the use of computers by people with aphasia; and (2) the perceptions of people with aphasia towards computers and computer-based therapy. Thirty-four people with aphasia completed an aphasia-friendly paper-based survey about their use of computers before and after the onset of their aphasia, and their attitudes towards computer-based aphasia therapy. There was a high level of computer usage by people with aphasia both before and after the onset of their aphasia. However, the nature of the computer use changed following aphasia onset, with a move away from work-based usage. The majority of the cohort used computers for aphasia therapy and liked using computer-based aphasia therapy, provided that the programs were perceived as appropriate for their individual needs. The results highlight the importance of exposing people with aphasia to computer-based aphasia therapy in a supported clinical environment, and the need to ensure that computer-based therapy is individualised for each client. It should be noted, however, that while the majority of participants reported positive experiences with using computers, this does not mean that the computer-based therapy software used was necessarily an effective treatment for aphasia.

The short-interval fires required to promote grazing for large herbivores within the Cape Floristic Region World Heritage Site are detrimental to plant diversity. At the same time, longer interval fires significantly reduce graze quality. Conservation managers thus face an enormous challenge when the herbivores are also a conservation priority, since the competing conservation objectives are difficult to reconcile. Population growth rates of genetically important populations of endangered Cape mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra) are low or declining following management focused on their fynbos habitat. Investigation of spatial and temporal habitat use and the diet of Cape mountain zebra, focusing on the use of land historically converted to agricultural grassland within fynbos in De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa), determined factors limiting populations and facilitated development of management strategies. Zebras selected grassland over other habitat types, despite grassland accounting for only a small proportion of the reserve. Grasses also made up the greatest proportion of diet for zebras throughout the year. Time spent on grasslands increased with grass height and was likely to have been influenced by grass protein levels. It is likely that grazing resources are a limiting factor for zebra, and so options for improving and/or increasing grassland at De Hoop should be considered. Translocation of surplus males to other conservation areas, reductions in other herbivore populations and targeted burns to increase grassland availability all offer short-term solutions. However, the acquisition of agricultural grassland adjacent to reserves is likely to be a viable long-term management strategy for this and other genetically important Cape mountain zebra populations. Low conservation priority habitats, such as farmland, should be considered for other management conflicts, as they have the potential to play a vital role in conservation.