UK media responses to HIV through the lens of COVID-19: a study of multidirectional memory.

This article proposes correlations and parallels in UK newsprint media coverage of the COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS pandemics through engagement with Michael Rothberg's model of multidirectional memory. It achieves this via qualitative and quantitative analysis of newsprint media during selected timelines of the respective outbreaks. Although the COVID-19 outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China in 2019 and spread globally, has prompted reference to a number of previous traumatic events, including 9/11 and the Holocaust, one might contend that it correlates most closely with HIV/AIDS given the latter's ongoing nature and worldwide reach. COVID-19, having infected 629 million people since December 2019 with 6.5 million deaths by November 2022, still presents a global threat through which we might read the trauma of HIV, a disease that has thus far seen 32.7 million deaths and has infected 75.7 million people worldwide. This relationship exists despite the fact that the two viruses and their effects differ markedly: HIV is a retrovirus, has a long incubation time, is transmitted via bodily fluids, has a low risk of infectivity via everyday contact and, to date, no fully effective vaccine has been developed. Contrastingly, COVID-19 is a coronavirus, has a short incubation time, is transmitted via contact and airborne respiratory aerosols, has a high risk of infectivity via everyday contact, and investment in vaccine development has been significant, with several vaccines now successfully developed. Nonetheless, while the two viruses and their prognoses are quite different and government strategies have followed highly divergent trajectories, certain parallels are apparent to the extent that one might read HIV/AIDS through the lens of COVID-19. It is therefore argued here that the connections between these two traumatic events constitute what Rothberg terms 'multidirectional memory' whereby we understand one traumatic event through another.

An exploration of food industry led reformulation on fortified food staples in Ireland.

BACKGROUND: Food industry led reformulation efforts have attempted to address the prevalence of obesity by modifying nutrient compositions in food products. This study explored progress in nutrient composition alterations in products in Irish supermarkets by comparing the nutrient labels of products sold in 2014 and 2017. METHODS: We conducted two supermarket audits in 2014 and 2017 to examine the changes in the nutrient profile of cereals, breads, spreads, unflavoured milks, yogurts and juices. Information on the nutrients of interest to the study (energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, saturated fat, salt, sugar and some micronutrients) were extracted and stored in Microsoft Excel. The nutrient profile of each product was compared across the two timepoints. Our study shows that the mean level of sugars in cereals remains high and that the mean level of salt remains high in cereals, breads, and spreads. RESULTS: In total, 143 products were directly compared (86 cereals, 26 breads, 17 spreads and 14 milks). Our study shows that the composition of salt and sugar in cereal, bread, spreads and milk has declined by 12 and 7%, respectively. Saturated fat has declined in cereals (7%), but has increased in breads (12%), spreads (1%), and milks (5%). Manufacturers increased the serving sizes in nine cereals and one milk. CONCLUSIONS: From a population health perspective, the results are encouraging but care should be exercised by the food industry not to allow total fat and saturated fat levels to creep upwards. Further research and engagement of public health specialists and the food industry are needed.

Improving Healthcare Worker Resilience and Well-Being During COVID-19 Using a Self-Directed E-Learning Intervention.

Introduction: High rates of burnout, depression, anxiety, and insomnia in healthcare workers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported globally. Methods: Responding to the crisis, the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) developed an e-learning course to support healthcare worker well-being and resilience. A self-paced, asynchronous learning model was used as the training intervention. Each module included practical, skill-building activities. An outcome evaluation was conducted to determine if completing the course improved healthcare worker knowledge of and confidence in the learning outcomes of the course, their use of resilience-building behaviours, their resilience, and their well-being. A secondary objective was to explore if there were any associations between behaviours, resilience, and well-being. Participants completed pre- and post-course questionnaires to measure knowledge of and confidence in the learning outcomes, y, frequency of self-reported resilience-building behaviours, and levels of resilience (CD-RISC) and well-being (WHO-5). Results were analysed in STATA using paired T-tests, univariate and multivariate linear regression models. Results: Participants (n = 474; 77.6% female; 55.7% primary care) exhibited significant increases in knowledge, confidence, resilience-building behaviour, resilience, and well-being scores. Statistically significant improvements in the frequency of resilience-building behaviours led to significant improvements in resilience (0.25 points; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.43) and well-being (0.21 points; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.36). Increasing changes in well-being scores had a positive effect on change in resilience scores (ß = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.29), and vice versa (ß = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.41). Conclusion: A healthcare worker e-learning course can build knowledge and skills that may prompt changes in resilience-building behaviours and improvements in well-being and resilience scores. The findings suggest that e-learning courses may improve more than competency-based outcomes alone but further research is warranted to further explore these relationships.

The mixed kappa and delta opioid receptor agonist, MP1104, attenuates chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain.

Effective treatments for chronic pain without abuse liability are urgently needed. One in 5 adults suffer chronic pain and half of these patients report inefficient treatment. Mu opioid receptor agonists (MOP), including oxycodone, tramadol and morphine, are often prescribed to treat chronic pain, however, use of drugs targeting MOP can lead to drug dependency, tolerance and overdose deaths. Kappa opioid receptor (KOP) agonists have antinociceptive effects without abuse potential; however, they have not been utilised clinically due to dysphoria and sedation. We hypothesise that mixed opioid receptor agonists targeting the KOP and delta opioid receptor (DOP) would have a wider therapeutic index, with the rewarding effects of DOP negating the negative effects of KOP. MP1104, an analogue of 3-Iodobenzoyl naltrexamine, is a novel mixed opioid receptor agonist with potent antinociceptive effects mediated via KOP and DOP in mice without rewarding or aversive effects. In this study, we show MP1104 has potent, long-acting antinociceptive effects in the warm-water tail-withdrawal assay in male and female mice and rats; and is longer acting than morphine. In the paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain model in mice, MP1104 reduced both mechanical and cold allodynia and unlike morphine, did not produce tolerance when administered daily for 23 days. Moreover, MP1104 did not induce sedative effects in the open-field locomotor activity test, respiratory depression in mice using whole-body plethysmography, or have cross-tolerance with morphine. This data supports the therapeutic development of mixed opioid receptor agonists, particularly mixed KOP/DOP agonists, as non-addictive pain medications with reduced tolerance.

Voluntary folic acid fortification levels of food staples in Ireland continue to decline: further implications for passive folic acid intakes?

BACKGROUND: Ireland previously had widespread voluntary fortification but research at Dublin City University carried out in 2014 by our research group demonstrated a major decline in the number of food staples fortified with folic acid in Irish supermarkets over the previous 10 years. The aim of the study was to repeat the audit conducted 3 years ago to compare the levels of folic acid fortification of foodstuffs over this time-frame. METHODS: Over a period of 8-weeks between June and August 2017, the nutrition labels of all foodstuffs that might typically be fortified with micronutrients for sale in the supermarkets with the majority of market share in Ireland were examined. The amount of added folic acid detailed on the label was compared with those captured in 2014. RESULTS: In total, 1081 products with added micronutrients were examined. In percentage terms, there has been a decline of Folic Acid (FA) fortified products within the food groups-spreads, breads, cereals, cereal snacks, milks, fruit juices, yogurts/yogurt drinks and energy drinks since 2014. DISCUSSION: The number of food staples fortified with FA continues to decline demonstrating that voluntary fortification in Ireland is no longer an effective measure for passively augmenting the folic acid levels of consumers.

How We Got Smart: Improving Interdisciplinary Communication When Summoning Neonatology to High-Risk Deliveries.

Communication around high-risk deliveries is critical to ensure patient safety. A hospital-wide system change in paging the neonatal resuscitation team (NRT) to deliveries was implemented but disliked. An interdisciplinary team seized the opportunity to explore opportunities for an enhanced system to improve communication. The team designed a new screen to our smart panel (responder 5 staff terminal, Rauland, Mount Prospect, Illinois) to page NRT with the location and primary indication for which they were needed at delivery. Surveys assessed user satisfaction among labor and delivery and NRT. Before and after implementation of the smart panel, we assessed number of NRT pages, frequency of NRT being paged prior to the delivery, the time between page and delivery, and use of the code button to summon help. Labor and delivery and NRT user satisfaction greatly improved with the smart panel. Frequency of NRT being paged before birth increased with fewer code pages being used to summon NRT to deliveries. A touch screen-based notification system can enhance timely notification to summon NRT to deliveries while concurrently enhancing satisfaction of providers in both the delivery room and on the NRT.

Improving communication between obstetric and neonatology teams for high-risk deliveries: a quality improvement project.

Summoning is a key component of communication between obstetrics and neonatal resuscitation team (NRT) in advance of deliveries. A paging system is a commonly used summoning tool. The timeliness and information contained in the page help NRT to optimally prepare for postdelivery infant care. Our aim was to increase the frequency that summoning pages contained gestational age and reason for NRT attendance to >90%. At baseline, 8% of pages contained gestational age and 33% of pages contained a reason for NRT attendance. Sequential Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were used as our model for quality improvement. During the 8-month improvement period, the per cent of pages increased to 97% for gestational age and 97% for reason for NRT attendance. Measures of page timeliness, our balancing measure, did not change. Summoning communication between obstetric and NRT is crucial for optimal perinatal outcomes. The active involvement of all stakeholders throughout the project resulted in the development of a standardised paging tool and a more informative paging process, which is a key communication tool used in many centres.

Towards a structure of feeling: abjection and allegories of disease in science fiction 'mutation' films.

This article considers differences between the representation of mutation in science fiction films from the 1950s and the present, and identifies distinctive changes over this time period, both in relation to the narrative causes of genetic disruption and in the aesthetics of its visual display. Discerning an increasingly abject quality to science fiction mutations from the 1970s onwards-as a progressive tendency to view the physically opened body, one that has a seemingly fluid interior-exterior reversal, or one that is almost beyond recognition as humanoid-the article connects a propensity for disgust to the corresponding socio-cultural and political zeitgeist. Specifically, it suggests that such imagery is tied to a more expansive 'structure of feeling', proposed by Raymond Williams and emergent since the 1970s, but gathering momentum in later decades, that reflects an 'opening up' of society in all its visual, socio-cultural and political configurations. Expressly, it parallels a change from a repressive, patriarchal society that constructed medicine as infallible and male doctors as omnipotent to one that is generally more liberated, transparent and equitable. Engaging theoretically with the concept of a 'structure of feeling', and critically with scientific, cinematic and cultural discourses, two post-1970s' 'mutation' films, The Fly (1986) and District 9 (2009), are considered in relation to their pre-1970s' predecessors, and their aesthetics related to the perceptions and articulations of the medical profession at their respective historic moments, locating such instances within a broader medico-political canvas.

Toward standardized high-throughput serum diagnostics: multiplex-protein array identifies IL-8 and VEGF as serum markers for colon cancer.

Development and progression of colon cancer may be related to cytokines. Cytokines with diagnostic value have been identified individually but have not been implemented into clinical praxis. Using a multiplex protein array, the authors explore a panel of cytokines simultaneously and compared its performance to carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9). Serum concentrations of 12 cytokines were simultaneously determined by multiplex biochip technology in 50 colon cancer patients and 50 healthy controls. Serum levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and CEA were significantly higher in cancer patients than in healthy controls. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were largest for IL-8, followed by CEA, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and CA 19-9. Analyses regarding marker combinations showed an advantage over single marker performance for CEA, VEGF, and CA 19-9 but not for IL-8. Multiplex biochip array technology represents a practical tool in cytokine and cancer research when simultaneous determination of different biomarkers is of interest. The results suggest that the assessment of IL-8, CEA, VEGF, and possibly CA 19-9 serum levels could be useful for colon cancer screening with the potential of also detecting early stage tumors. Further validation studies using these and additional markers on a multiplex array format are encouraged.

Keeping PEDIATRICS in pediatric disaster management: Before, during, and in the aftermath of complex emergencies.

From 1900 there have been more than 9800 natural disasters affecting more than 67 million children worldwide. Because of unique physical, developmental, and psychosocial characteristics of children, caring for them during complex emergencies is different to caring for adults. However, planning for these unique physical, developmental, and psychosocial needs has not been well addressed when planning for complex emergencies. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to review those characteristics of children that place them at higher disaster risk, and discuss the preparations necessary to meet their needs before, during, and in the aftermath of complex emergencies.