Congratulations to Midwifery Lecturer Daisy Wiggins on the publication of her paper ‘Could a decision support tool be the key to supporting choice for women regarding place of birth?’ and her co-author Prof. Vanora Hundley. This paper, based on her Ph.D. studies, has been accepted by the international journal Midwifery (academic publisher = Elsevier).
Tagged / Health
Introduction to Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) for Researchers – free event
Introduction to Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) for Researchers
Date: Tuesday 10 January 2023
Time: 10:30 – 12:30
This event is aimed at people who are new to PPI or setting up their first PPI project, and is free for students and staff from the NIHR, NHS, UK universities, public sector institutions and registered charities based in the UK.
It will help them to discover the support available to plan, deliver and build PPI into their research, and highlight how PPI improves research for patients, services users and carers.
Keeping it clean… BU leads new insights into blood filtration
Whether its in you, a blue whale or a tiny insect, circulating fluids bathe and nourish organs, tissues and cells. To avoid compromising organ function, these ‘bloods’ are filtered and kept free of unwanted molecules. Studying these clearance mechanisms informs us about normal physiology, as well as disease across a vast array of organisms, from flies to humans.
In a new paper led by BU, it has been established that a mechanism common to flies and humans involving a protein called Amnionless, relies on a cell’s calcium level being controlled by genes known as Stim and Orai. Using powerful fruit fly genetics and dynamic cellular imaging techniques, the researchers found that as calcium levels change, Amnionless is turned-over at the cell surface where is helps to remove unwanted molecules. This new information is important because of its relevance to the human kidney’s role in blood filtration. Additionally, research is showing that the mechanism can be targeted by environmental toxins and this may explain why some insect species are struggling in the wild.
It is sobering to think that aspects of human cardiovascular disease and the ‘insect apocalypse’ may actually have common origins. Understanding these biological systems therefore has a dual purpose by informing medical, biomedical and ecological research fields.
(The image shows insect filtration cells in blue, adjacent to the heart, coloured magenta).
NIHR’s ‘Your Path in Research’ campaign
The National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) Your Path In Research campaign kicks off on Monday 31 October 2022 with a special 2 week focus on research careers in public health and social care.
The campaign will highlight how public health and social care staff can make research part of their career.
They will showcase inspiring case studies from those working in the field and give people the opportunity to chat and connect with researchers online via their Link and Learn matchmaking service.
You can find more information on this here,
Free online course – Improving Healthcare Through Clinical Research
Interested in clinical research and what’s involved? Are you contemplating a career in healthcare or the life sciences, or, do you want to find out more about the role of clinical research in improving healthcare?
If you’ve answered yes to any of the above questions, then why not sign up to FutureLearn’s Improving Healthcare Through Clinical Research course?
The course has been developed by the University of Leeds and is be available now, via this link.
It is completely free and all online, lasting 4 weeks.
This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. By completing the course you will have achieved 16 hours of CPD time.
Remember – support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your research ideas into the NHS – email the Clinical Research mailbox, and take a look at the Clinical Governance website.
New BU midwifery paper published this week
Congratulations to Prof. Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal &Perinatal Health (CMMPH) who published the paper ‘Effective communication: core to promoting respectful maternity care for disabled women’ in the international journal Midwifery. This paper is co-authored with BU Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland who is Professional Midwifery Advocate at Poole Maternity Hospital, University Hospital Dorset (UHD), and two former BU staff members: Dr. Bethan Collins & Dr. Jenny Hall.
Congratulations,
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
Collins, C., Hall, J., Hundley, V., Ireland, J. (2022) Effective communication: core to promoting respectful maternity care for disabled women’, Midwifery. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2022.103525
New Public Health publication on Nepal
Over the weekend the Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association published our latest paper on the federalisation and health in Nepal research project [1]. The paper addresses some of the key Public Health approaches around the ongoing federalisation of the state of Nepal and the associated decentralisation processes in its health system. The article outlines the main roles of the discipline of Public Health and the contribution it can make to the reform process. Then the next section introduces our on-going study into the effects of the establishment of the Federal Republic of Nepal on the organisation and running of the country’s health system. To capture the Public Health benefits of decentralisation, the process should not be only ‘top-down’, directed by policy elites. Although in theory Nepal’s health system has undergone a process of decentralisation, in practice policy and planning is often still being led by the Federal government, despite the clear roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government in health service delivery. To improve policy and planning in the newly decentralised health system structure, there needs to be meaningful incorporation of the views of stakeholders at all levels (even the very lowest levels). Our project aims to play a part in addressing this by capturing a wide variety of experiences of the decentralisation process.
The interdisciplinary and international research team has published two earlier articles on this on-going study [2-3]. This week is Open Access week, so it is worth noting that all three paper are freely available through Open Access.
Edwin van Teijlingen
- Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., Lee, A., Balen, J., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., Subedi, M., Gautam, S., Karki., J., Adhikary, P., Marahatta, S., Simkhada, P., for the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42.
- Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire, S., Karki, J., Lee, A.C.K., Marahatta, S.B., Panday, S., Pohl, G., Rushton, S., Sapkota, S., Simkhada, P.P., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E. for the Nepal Federal Health System team (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
- Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., Karki, J., Simkhada, P. on behalf of the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146
Congratulations to Dr. Tsofliou & Prof. Appleton on latest interdisciplinary paper
Congratulations to BU’s interdisciplinary nutrition-behavioural sciences team that published the recent review “Barriers and Facilitators Associated with the Adoption of and Adherence to a Mediterranean Style Diet in Adults: A Systematic Review of Published Observational and Qualitative Studies” [1] in the journal Nutrients. The academics are based in two different faculties, namely the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and the Faculty of Science & Technology, represented by Dr. Fotini Tsofliou and Prof Katherine Appleton respectively. Two BU students (recently graduated) are also two co-authors: Dimitrios Vlachos (who completed the MRes) and Christina Hughes (MSc Nutrition & Behaviour).
This review which is Open Access includes all studies investigating barriers or facilitators to adopting or adhering to a Mediterranean style diet in adults aged 18 years old and over. The paper identified financial, cognitive, socio-cultural, motivational, lifestyle, accessibility & availability, sensory and hedonic and demographic factors. Similar barriers and facilitators are often reported in relation to healthy eating or the consumption of specific healthy foods, with a few exceptions. These exceptions detailed concerns with specific components of the MedDiet; considerations due to culture and traditions, and concerns over a cooler climate. Suggestions for overcoming these barriers and facilitators specific to adoption and adherence to the Mediterranean diet are offered.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
- Tsofliou F, Vlachos D, Hughes C, Appleton KM. Barriers and Facilitators Associated with the Adoption of and Adherence to a Mediterranean Style Diet in Adults: A Systematic Review of Published Observational and Qualitative Studies. Nutrients. 2022; 14(20):4314. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14204314
Free Upcoming Seminars
See below for two opportunities to attend free seminars.
Selling to the NHS
Thursday 3rd November – 13:00-14:30
A Healthcare Innovator’s roadmap. This course will help you address key market access challenges in healthcare.
This 90 minute session is suitable for anyone who is involved in developing new healthcare technologies and products, be it as an entrepreneur, clinician, academic or investor. It will help you to understand key market issues in healthcare markets and how to overcome them, understanding your (NHS) customer and the value of evidence and how to use it to drive adoption.
BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE HERE |
Grant Funding Opportunities for MedTech Innovators
Thursday 10th November – 12:30-13:30
This free 60 minute session is suitable for anyone from the NHS, academia or industry looking to learn more about how to prepare robust funding applications to support the development of new medical technologies.
BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE HERE |
Erasmus+ students from Nepal arrived at BU
Last Thursday the seven Erasmus+ exchange students arrived in Bournemouth from Nepal. The exchange is between Bournemouth University (BU) and Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu, Nepal. On Friday, their first full day a BU the Nepalese M.Sc. students received a Global Engagement Welcome from Cathryn Street, followed by an International Orientation by Caroline Earth from the Transitions Team. The students were welcomed to the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences by Dr. Angela Turner-Wilson who is Deputy Head of the Department of Medical Sciences & Public Health as well as the faculty’s Interim Associate Dean of Global Engagement. The two main contacts for the students at BU will be Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. This student exchange follows the visit of BU staff (Profs. Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen) to Kathmandu and MMIHS staff visiting BU in return this summer.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
Excellence in paramedic science
Cormac Sertutxa showcased his Paramedic Science research on the ‘Impact of COVID-19 Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) restrictions on Cardiac Arrest survival rates in pre-hospital practice: a scoping review’. Cormac presented at Infection 360 in Birmingham last week where he received a Clinical Poster Award for his poster.
Congratulations to Cormac and the lecturers in Paramedic Science who supported him.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences
Two little mishaps in a row
All research has its costs, we spend a lot of time as academics planning for and budgeting our studies. This starts with considering how much time each academic spends on preparing the grant application and finished with cost of dissemination of findings after the data have been analysed. We do risk assessments the try to reduce risk and mitigate unforeseen circumstances. My last two trips to Nepal both suffered from such unexpected events.
In May I traveled to Nepal with Prof. Vanora Hundley from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) as part of the ERASMUS+ exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) where we joined by Bournemouth University (BU) PhD student Sulochana Dhakal-Rai. Sulochana was in Nepal on the Turing Scheme, the UK government’s programme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world.As part of this trip we had organised a one-day Systematic Review on Dementia Research Workshop on Sunday 29th May in at MMIHS in Kathmandu. This Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funded workshop was highly successful, it attracted 75% more participants than budgeted for, namely 53 instead of 30. However, the extra cost this incurred in terms of workshop resources, refreshments and lunches was not a great issue compared to the fact that I had contracted COVID-19 a few days before the workshop and had tested positive on a PCR test two days before. Thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at MMIHS, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Green Tara Nepal, and especially, Prof. Vanora Hundley, the workshop run very well. I even managed to make a guest appearance online from my hotel room 200 meters away from the workshop venue, albeit on a poorer quality internet connection than I would have had half way across the globe (at BU or at home).
This positive COVID-19 test also meant I could not travel on the India in early June due to COVID-19 travel restriction for entering India. There I had planned to meet Dr. Shanti Shanker from BU’s Psychology Department as part of our GCRF-funded project ‘Promoting dementia research in Nepal and India’. Again due to the presence of well organised colleagues the India part of the trip ran smoothly. Dr. Gayatri Kotbagi, who has works for us through the charity Sheetale Astitva, and Dr. Shanti Shanker managed to run the internal trip very well without me.
In August I traveled to Nepal again with two BU academics: Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Lecturer in Criminology, Department of Sociology & Social Work, Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health (Department of Nursing Sciences) and a colleague from the University of Exeter Dr. Emma Pitchforth. The main purpose of this visit was to run two sets of three-day Academic Writing Workshop in two cities in Nepal, namely Kathmandu and Pokhara. These workshops were funded by the British Academy and supported by Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest university, the charity Green Tara Nepal and Social Science Baha. This time the trip itself went very well, both workshop were very well attended, and even made it into a newspaper in Nepal: The Rising Nepal.
The trouble started after we had left Nepal. Dr. Pitchforth and I helped both fell ill some five to eight days after returning to the UK. We both had flu-type symptoms, including sore joints, night sweats, feeling tired, coughing, etc., although these were not exactly the same, my symptoms were perhaps a bit more like COVID-19. Which is why I did three COVID-19 tests in one week (all negative). It was not until the blood test came back from the NHS lab last week that my family doctor could tell me that I had dengue fever. Dengue fever is on the rise in Nepal. The national English-language paper The Himalayan Times reported yesterday (27th Sept. 2022) that dengue fever “has afflicted almost 26,000 people in Nepal” In July in the capital Kathmandu “…35 people had contracted the mosquito-borne disease. The number increased to 727 in August and 8,132 in September.”
I’m looking forward to my next trip to Nepal, as we have loads of on-going project. I have been going there for nearly twenty years, and having two incidents in two decades is not a lot, pity these came in the same year and on subsequent trips.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
The difference between two editorials
Yesterday the editors of the Journal of Asian Midwives published published a short editorial in the latest issue of this international journal. The editorial under the title ‘JAM – Summer 2022: One crisis after another….. ‘ introduces the four peer-reviewed research papers in the current issue [1]. The editorial is focused neatly on aspects of midwifery and maternity care and the Asian countries represented in the four articles: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan. Compare this to our editorial published a few weeks ago in Frontiers in Public Health [2]. The latter editorial again introduces four papers, this time papers included in a Special Issue of Frontiers in Public Health which focuses on ‘Integrated health service delivery and COVID-19’. One would expect an editorial in a Special Issue of a journal to be particularly focused. However, the four included papers on integrated care and COVID-19 are quite different from each other, making it harder for the guest editors to write a coherent editorial.
It is worth remembering that there is an art in writing an interesting editorial which motivates the reader to read further articles in the journal, and Prof. Vanora and I with four other colleagues discussed recently [3]. At the same time, the editors writing any editorial can only work with the material available to them at the time.
All three papers mentioned in this Bournemouth University Research Blog (and listed below) are Open Access, and hence all are freely available to any reader across the globe with internet access!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)
References:
- Jan, R., van Teijlingen, E., Mubeen, K. (2022) JAM – Summer 2022: One crisis after another….. Journal of Asian Midwives 9(1):1.
- Sathian B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2022) Editorial: Integrated health service delivery and COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health 10:1008777. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1008777.
- van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., Robinson, J., Banerjee, I. (2022). The Art of the Editorial. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 12(1):1135–38.
New BU PhD education paper
This week the editor of the journal Journal of Education & Research informed us that our paper ‘Reflections on variations in PhD viva regulations: “And the options are….”’ has been accepted for publication [1]. This paper grew out of a discussion between the six authors about the apparent differences between the outcomes of the PhD viva at different universities. We have all acted as internal or external examiners for a PhD viva and had noted inconsistencies between universities, either in the regulations or in the interpretation of their PhD regulations. The authors are based at three different universities, on two different continents and, between them, have examined PhD theses submitted to universities based in at least ten different countries. Three authors are based in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (Prof. Vanora Hundley, Dr. Pramod Regmi & Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen), two authors are based in the School of Human & Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield (Prof. Padam Simkhada & Dr. Bibha Simkhada and both are Visiting Faculty at BU), and one author is based in the Institute for Global Health in the School of Public Health & Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA (Prof. Krishna C. Poudel).
This paper outlines the range of outcomes of a PhD examination. It also includes four short case studies, each reflecting on a particular aspect /differences we experienced as examinees or as examiners. The authors aim to alert PhD candidates and examiners to study the examination rules set by the awarding university, as the details of the PhD examination outcome, and hence the options available to both examiners and the students, may differ more than one might expect. This is the latest CMMPH education publication around aspects of the PhD [2-5].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
References:
- van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, B., Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., Hundley, V., Poudel, K.C. (2022) Reflections on variations in PhD viva regulations: “And the options are….”, Journal of Education and Research (accepted).
- Way, S, Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E, Walton, G., Westwood, G. (2016) Dr Know. Midwives 19: 66-7.
- Wasti, S.P. Regmi, P.R., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. (2022) Writing a PhD Proposal, In: Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P.P., Hundely, V. & Shreeh, K. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 176-183.
- Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Converting your Master’s or Doctoral Thesis into an Academic Paper for Publication, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 184-189.
- Regmi, P., Poobalan, A., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) PhD supervision in Public Health, Health Prospect: Journal of Public Health 20(1):1-4. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/view/32735/28111
Could you help the Health Research Authority improve the research ethics review?
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Remember – support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your research ideas into the NHS or social care – email the Clinical Research mailbox, and take a look at the Clinical Governance section of the website.
Interested in health research in Nepal?
In order to open the meeting to other researchers in the UK studying Nepal the meeting will be hybrid and also available via Teams.
Meeting ID: 399 955 418 574
Passcode: 6Uzh5k
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Prof. Vanora Hundley & Dr. Pramod Regmi
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
Celebrating FHSS Visiting Faculty’s contribution
It just occurred to me this morning that my last two scientific publications, including the one highlighted yesterday on the BU Research Blog are co-authored with academics who are FHSS Visiting Faculty. Yesterday’s paper ‘‘A survey of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety and Depression among Flood Affected Populations in Kerala, India‘ [1], was co-authored by two of our Visiting Faculty: Prof. Padam Simkhada (in the School of Human & Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield) and Dr. Brijesh Sathian (in the Geriatrics & Long-term Care Department at Rumailah Hospital, Qatar). Whilst last week’s publication ‘COVID-19 restrictions and psychological well-being of fathers with infants admitted to NICU (neonatal intensive care units)—an exploratory cross-sectional study‘ in the journal Acta Paediatrica [2] was co-authored by two Visiting Faculty members from University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. The two clinicians, who co-authored this international paper, are both based at Poole Maternity Hospital: Prof. Minesh Khashu (Lead Consultant Neonatologist) and Ms. Jillian Ireland (Professional Midwifery Advocate).
Both papers are Open Access, and hence free to access for anybody across the globe.
References:
- Asim, M., Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Mekkodathil, A. A., Babu, M. G. R., Rajesh, E., Kumar, R. N., Simkhada, P., & Banerjee, I. (2022). A survey of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety and Depression among Flood Affected Populations in Kerala, India . Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, 12(2), 1203–1214. https://doi.org/10.3126/nje.v12i2.46334
- Adama E.A., Koliouli F., Provenzi L., Feeley N., van Teijlingen E., Ireland J., Thomson-Salo F., Khashu M and FINESSE Group (2022) COVID-19 restrictions and psychological well-being of fathers with infants admitted to NICU—an exploratory cross-sectional study, Acta Paediatrica (forthcoming) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/apa.16455
New BU disaster publication
Yesterday the latest issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology carried our paper ‘A survey of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety and Depression among Flood Affected Populations in Kerala, India‘ [1]. This paper was co-authored by two Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) Visiting Faculty, namely Prof. Padam Simkhada (in the School of Human & Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield) and Dr. Brijesh Sathian (in the Geriatrics & Long-term Care Department at Rumailah Hospital, Qatar). This study is longer-term follow-up of the 2018 floods in Kerala. The authors conducted a cross-sectional household survey between November 2019 to January 2020 in one district of Kerala with adults who had been directly exposed to the 2018 flood. The paper concludes that the vast majority of respondents (92% of women & 87% of men) still showed sub-clinical psychiatric symptoms one year after the flood. An earlier paper had argues for further research in India to explore “the long-term sequelae of catastrophic floods on physical and mental trauma on disaster-affected populations” [2].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
References:
- Asim, M., Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Mekkodathil, A. A., Babu, M. G. R., Rajesh, E., Kumar, R. N., Simkhada, P., & Banerjee, I. (2022). A survey of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety and Depression among Flood Affected Populations in Kerala, India . Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, 12(2), 1203–1214. https://doi.org/10.3126/nje.v12i2.46334
- Asim, M., Mekkodathil, A., Sathian, B, Elayedath, R., Kumar N.R., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2019) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among the Flood Affected Population in Indian Subcontinent, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 9(1): 755-758. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/24003