7 results
Parliamentary reaction to the announcement and implementation of the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy: applied thematic analysis of 2016–2020 parliamentary debates
- Catrin P Jones, Emma R Lawlor, Hannah Forde, Dolly RZ van Tulleken, Steven Cummins, Jean Adams, Richard Smith, Mike Rayner, Harry Rutter, Tarra L Penney, Olivia Alliot, Sofie Armitage, Martin White
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- Journal:
- Public Health Nutrition / Volume 27 / Issue 1 / 2024
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 24 January 2024, e51
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Objective:
The UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) (announced in March 2016; implemented in April 2018) aims to incentivise reformulation of soft drinks to reduce added sugar levels. The SDIL has been applauded as a policy success, and it has survived calls from parliamentarians for it to be repealed. We aimed to explore parliamentary reaction to the SDIL following its announcement until two years post-implementation in order to understand how health policy can become established and resilient to opposition.
Design:Searches of Hansard for parliamentary debate transcripts that discussed the SDIL retrieved 186 transcripts, with 160 included after screening. Five stages of Applied Thematic Analysis were conducted: familiarisation and creation of initial codebooks; independent second coding; codebook finalisation through team consensus; final coding of the dataset to the complete codebook; and theme finalisation through team consensus.
Setting:The United Kingdom Parliament
Participants:N/A
Results:Between the announcement (16/03/2016) – royal assent (26/04/2017), two themes were identified 1: SDIL welcomed cross-party 2: SDIL a good start but not enough. Between royal assent – implementation (5/04/2018), one theme was identified 3: The SDIL worked – what next? The final theme identified from implementation until 16/03/2020 was 4: Moving on from the SDIL.
Conclusions:After the announcement, the SDIL had cross-party support and was recognised to have encouraged reformulation prior to implementation. Lessons for governments indicate that the combination of cross-party support and a policy’s documented success in achieving its aim can help cement the resilience of it to opposition and threats of repeal.
VP88 Transient Ischaemic Attack Referral (TIER) Intervention Development
- Chelsey Hampton, Nigel Rees, Khalid Ali, Richard Dewar, Lyn Evans, Gary Ford, Roger John, Chris Moore, Mike Obiako, Alison Porter, Tom Quinn, Jenna Bulger, Charlene Jones, Anne Seagrove, Helen Snooks
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- Journal:
- International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care / Volume 33 / Issue S1 / 2017
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 12 January 2018, pp. 189-190
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INTRODUCTION:
Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) is a neurologic event with symptom resolution within 24 hours. Early specialist assessment of TIA reduces risk of stroke and death. National United Kingdom (UK) guidelines recommend patients with TIA are seen in specialist clinics within 24 hours (high risk) or seven days (low risk).
We aimed to develop a complex intervention for patients with low risk TIA presenting to the emergency ambulance service. The intervention is being tested in the TIER feasibility trial, in line with Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance on staged development and evaluation of complex interventions.
METHODS:We conducted three interrelated activities to produce the TIER intervention:
• Survey of UK Ambulance Services (n = 13) to gather information about TIA pathways already in use
• Scoping review of literature describing prehospital care of patients with TIA
• Synthesis of data and definition of intervention by specialist panel of: paramedics; Emergency Department (ED) and stroke consultants; service users; ambulance service managers.
RESULTS:The panel used results to define the TIER intervention, to include:
1. Protocol for paramedics to assess patients presenting with TIA and identify and refer low risk patients for prompt (< 7day) specialist review at TIA clinic
2. Patient Group Directive and information pack to allow paramedic administration of aspirin to patients left at home with referral to TIA clinic
3. Referral process via ambulance control room
4. Training package for paramedics
5. Agreement with TIA clinic service provider including rapid review of referred patients
CONCLUSIONS:We followed MRC guidance to develop a clinical intervention for assessment and referral of low risk TIA patients attended by emergency ambulance paramedic. We are testing feasibility of implementing and evaluating this intervention in the TIER feasibility trial which may lead to fully powered multicentre randomized controlled trial (RCT) if predefined progression criteria are met.
Three - Religious literacy in the context of Theology and Religious Studies
- Edited by Adam Dinham, Goldsmiths University of London, Matthew Francis, Lancaster University
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- Book:
- Religious Literacy in Policy and Practice
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 11 March 2022
- Print publication:
- 18 March 2015, pp 39-54
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Summary
Theology and Religious Studies
In the UK ‘Theology and Religious Studies’ has become a catch-all phrase for the academic study of religion. Several universities have a Department of Theology and Religious Studies (King's College London, Nottingham, Leeds, Chester, Glasgow, and several others), advocacy for the field is carried out by a body called Theology and Religious Studies UK (TRS UK, formerly the Association of University Departments of Theology and Religious Studies, or AUDTRS), and in 2000 representatives of British university departments of divinity, theology, religion, religious studies, biblical studies and various combinations of those terms met under the auspices of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and agreed on a benchmarking statement for the field using the phrase ‘Theology and Religious Studies’ as their heading.
The document that the QAA process produced showed the great variety in the field, but also the mutual recognition among different types of department and approach. For some who took part in the process of consultation it felt like the ‘coming of age’ of a new paradigm, of Theology with Religious Studies, which had been slowly worked out over many years. As one summary noted: ‘There is less tension between the disciplines in Britain than there is elsewhere’ (Ross, 2007).
Nevertheless, the phrase ‘Theology and Religious Studies’ is sometimes still taken to paper over a strong contrast. On one side of the contrast, ‘Theology’ might be said to assume the faith of the person doing the studying, while ‘Religious Studies’ might be said to bracket the student's faith or lack of faith, and to be a self-consciously neutral discipline. Or ‘Theology’ might be said to be the internal discourse of a specific religious community, properly at home in that community's seminaries, while ‘Religious Studies’ is a discourse belonging to the public at large, properly at home in a secular university. Or Theology might be said to be about God, while Religious Studies is about the practices and beliefs of religious people. These contrasts are sometimes summarised by saying that Theology is ‘confessional’ while Religious Studies is ‘non-confessional’. Indeed, the two sides sometimes seem to be thought to be united only by their focus on questionable objects of study, with Theology only making sense as an academic discipline if one assumes the existence of God, and Religious Studies only making sense as an academic discipline if one assumes that ‘religion’ is a wellformed category.
Contributors
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- By Douglas L. Arnold, Laura J. Balcer, Amit Bar-Or, Sergio E. Baranzini, Frederik Barkhof, Robert A. Bermel, Francois A. Bethoux, Dennis N. Bourdette, Richard K. Burt, Peter A. Calabresi, Zografos Caramanos, Tanuja Chitnis, Stacey S. Cofield, Jeffrey A. Cohen, Nadine Cohen, Alasdair J. Coles, Devon Conway, Stuart D. Cook, Gary R. Cutter, Peter J. Darlington, Ann Dodds-Frerichs, Ranjan Dutta, Gilles Edan, Michelle Fabian, Franz Fazekas, Massimo Filippi, Elizabeth Fisher, Paulo Fontoura, Corey C. Ford, Robert J. Fox, Natasha Frost, Alex Z. Fu, Siegrid Fuchs, Kazuo Fujihara, Kristin M. Galetta, Jeroen J.G. Geurts, Gavin Giovannoni, Nada Gligorov, Ralf Gold, Andrew D. Goodman, Myla D. Goldman, Jenny Guerre, Stephen L. Hauser, Peter B. Imrey, Douglas R. Jeffery, Stephen E. Jones, Adam I. Kaplin, Michael W. Kattan, B. Mark Keegan, Kyle C. Kern, Zhaleh Khaleeli, Samia J. Khoury, Joep Killestein, Soo Hyun Kim, R. Philip Kinkel, Stephen C. Krieger, Lauren B. Krupp, Emmanuelle Le Page, David Leppert, Scott Litwiller, Fred D. Lublin, Henry F. McFarland, Joseph C. McGowan, Don Mahad, Jahangir Maleki, Ruth Ann Marrie, Paul M. Matthews, Francesca Milanetti, Aaron E. Miller, Deborah M. Miller, Xavier Montalban, Charity J. Morgan, Ichiro Nakashima, Sridar Narayanan, Avindra Nath, Paul W. O’Connor, Jorge R. Oksenberg, A. John Petkau, Michael D. Phillips, J. Theodore Phillips, Tammy Phinney, Sean J. Pittock, Sarah M. Planchon, Chris H. Polman, Alexander Rae-Grant, Stephen M. Rao, Stephen C. Reingold, Maria A. Rocca, Richard A. Rudick, Amber R. Salter, Paula Sandler, Jaume Sastre-Garriga, John R. Scagnelli, Dana J. Serafin, Lynne Shinto, Nancy L. Sicotte, Jack H. Simon, Per Soelberg Sørensen, Ryan E. Stagg, James M. Stankiewicz, Lael A. Stone, Amy Sullivan, Matthew Sutliff, Jessica Szpak, Alan J. Thompson, Bruce D. Trapp, Helen Tremlett, Maria Trojano, Orla Tuohy, Rhonda R. Voskuhl, Marc K. Walton, Mike P. Wattjes, Emmanuelle Waubant, Martin S. Weber, Howard L Weiner, Brian G. Weinshenker, Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, Jeffrey L. Winters, Jerry S. Wolinsky, Vijayshree Yadav, E. Ann Yeh, Scott S. Zamvil
- Edited by Jeffrey A. Cohen, Richard A. Rudick
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- Book:
- Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics
- Published online:
- 05 December 2011
- Print publication:
- 20 October 2011, pp viii-xii
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Phylogeny, phylogeography and genetic diversity of the Pisum genus
- Petr Smýkal, Gregory Kenicer, Andrew J. Flavell, Jukka Corander, Oleg Kosterin, Robert J. Redden, Rebecca Ford, Clarice J. Coyne, Nigel Maxted, Mike J. Ambrose, Noel T. H. Ellis
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- Journal:
- Plant Genetic Resources / Volume 9 / Issue 1 / April 2011
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 17 November 2010, pp. 4-18
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The tribe Fabeae (formerly Vicieae) contains some of humanity's most important grain legume crops, namely Lathyrus (grass pea/sweet pea/chickling vetches; about 160 species); Lens (lentils; 4 species); Pisum (peas; 3 species); Vicia (vetches; about 140 species); and the monotypic genus Vavilovia. Reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships within this group is essential for understanding the origin and diversification of these crops. Our study, based on molecular data, has positioned Pisum genetically between Vicia and Lathyrus and shows it to be closely allied to Vavilovia. A study of phylogeography, using a combination of plastid and nuclear markers, suggested that wild pea spread from its centre of origin, the Middle East, eastwards to the Caucasus, Iran and Afghanistan, and westwards to the Mediterranean. To allow for direct data comparison, we utilized model-based Bayesian Analysis of Population structure (BAPS) software on 4429 Pisum accessions from three large world germplasm collections that include both wild and domesticated pea analyzed by retrotransposon-based markers. An analysis of genetic diversity identified separate clusters containing wild material, distinguishing Pisum fulvum, P. elatius and P. abyssinicum, supporting the view of separate species or subspecies. Moreover, accessions of domesticated peas of Afghan, Ethiopian and Chinese origin were distinguished. In addition to revealing the genetic relationships, these results also provided insight into geographical and phylogenetic partitioning of genetic diversity. This study provides the framework for defining global Pisum germplasm diversity as well as suggesting a model for the domestication of the cultivated species. These findings, together with gene-based sequence analysis, show that although introgression from wild species has been common throughout pea domestication, much of the diversity still resides in wild material and could be used further in breeding. Moreover, although existing collections contain over 10,000 pea accessions, effort should be directed towards collecting more wild material in order to preserve the genetic diversity of the species.
10 - Six methods of inducing RNAi in mammalian cells
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- By Kathy Latham, Ambion, Inc., Vince Pallotta, Ambion, Inc., Lance Ford, Ambion, Inc., Mike Byrom, Ambion, Inc., Mehdi Banan, Ambion, Inc., Po-Tsan Ku, Ambion, Inc., David Brown, Ambion, Inc.
- Edited by Krishnarao Appasani, GeneExpression Systems, Inc., Massachusetts
- Foreword by Andrew Fire, Stanford University, California, Marshall Nirenberg
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- Book:
- RNA Interference Technology
- Published online:
- 31 July 2009
- Print publication:
- 17 January 2005, pp 147-160
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Summary
Using siRNAs to silence gene expression
The capacity to utilize a cell's naturally occurring RNA interference (RNAi) pathway to silence target gene expression has precipitated a new era in functional genomic research (McManus and Sharp, 2003; Dillin, 2003). RNAi can be induced in mammalian cells by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that target complementary mRNAs for degradation. Because of its specificity, reproducibility, and ease of use, RNAi is greatly accelerating the functional characterization of disease-relevant genes for drug discovery, target validation, and basic research efforts.
There are six basic methods for generating siRNAs. siRNAs can be prepared in vitro by chemical synthesis, in vitro transcription, or RNAse III/Dicer digestion of long double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs). The in vitro prepared siRNAs can then be delivered to mammalian cells by a variety of methods including lipofection and electroporation. Alternatively, siRNAs can be expressed in mammalian cells from DNA plasmids, viral vectors, or PCR products bearing an siRNA template adjacent to a compatible promoter. As with the in vitro prepared siRNAs, DNA plasmids and PCR products can be delivered to mammalian cells by a variety of methods – methods such as transfection agents and electroporation. Viral vectors, on the other hand, are first packaged into viral particles that are then used to infect cells.
Various methods for inducing RNAi in mammalian cells are described in the following sections. The relative advantages and disadvantages for each method are discussed. In addition, design criteria for both siRNAs and siRNA expression templates are described.
Towards successful implementation of continuing professional development – a survey of psychiatrists' attitudes
- Mark Davies, Mike Ford
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- Journal:
- Psychiatric Bulletin / Volume 25 / Issue 9 / September 2001
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 02 January 2018, pp. 334-336
- Print publication:
- September 2001
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Aims and Method
This survey aims to aid implementation of continuing professional development (CPD) by determining the acceptability of current proposals and predict problem areas. All non-training grade psychiatrists working in the area of a single deanery were asked about their attitude to CPD and, in particular, focusing on the peer group method.
ResultsOf the 115 respondents, 98% said they agreed with some form of CPD. Just under half of respondents thought peer groups were appropriate for CPD planning, with four being the most popular size, and 3 months the preferred frequency of meeting. Problems identified with the peer group structure included individual, speciality-based and organisation-related issues. Regarding sharing of CPD information, 40% of respondents thought the College should receive updates of individual progress, while the medical director was cited in over half. Finally, loss of educational supervisor status was felt to be the most appropriate penalty for failure to adhere to the CPD process.
Clinical ImplicationsThese results indicate that although there is general agreement to some form of CPD, peer groups are not universally accepted as the best design.