Airwave

BVA's officer team took to the airwaves in March, standing up for the veterinary profession as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the findings of its initial review of the UK's vet services market for household pets and announced a consultation on its provisional decision to launch a formal 'market investigation'.

DNA methylation has become a biomarker of great interest in the forensic and clinical fields. In criminal investigations, the study of this epigenetic marker has allowed the development of DNA intelligence tools providing information that can be useful for investigators, such as age prediction. Following a similar trend, when the origin of a sample in a criminal scenario is unknown, the inference of an individual's lifestyle such as tobacco use and alcohol consumption could provide relevant information to help in the identification of DNA donors at the crime scene...

BACKGROUND: The effort-independent tidal breathing test used by oscillometry presents a viable alternative for following up patients whose condition is stable while they are receiving biologic therapy. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine intrasession and intersession repeatability values for airwave oscillometry (AOS) and spirometry in patients who were already taking benralizumab. METHODS: In all, 21 patients with severe eosinophilic asthma attended the Scottish Centre for Respiratory Research as part of a clinical trial (EudraCT identification number 2019-003763-22)...

Exposure to phthalates and synthetic phenols is ubiquitous. Some of them are suspected to impact child respiratory health, although evidence still remains insufficient. This study investigated the associations between prenatal exposure to phthalates and phenols, individually and as a mixture, and child respiratory health assessed by objective lung function measures since 2 months of age. Among 479 mother-child pairs from the SEPAGES cohort, 12 phenols, 13 phthalate and 2 non-phthalate plasticizer metabolites were measured in 2 pools including each 21 urine samples collected at the 2nd and 3rd pregnancy trimesters...

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggest that promoting a combination of healthy lifestyle behaviors instead of exclusively focusing on a single behavior may have a greater impact on blood pressure (BP). We aimed to evaluate lifestyle factors and their impact on the risk of hypertension and BP. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional health-screening data from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study of 40,462 British police force staff. A basic lifestyle-score including waist-circumference, smoking and serum total cholesterol was calculated, with a greater value indicating a better lifestyle...

OBJECTIVE: The current study examined links between adverse mental health, job strain, and likelihood and frequency of primary care consultations among police employees. METHODS: We conducted secondary data analysis on the Airwave Health Monitoring Study data (n = 33,730). Measures included self-report data on mental health, job strain, job support, and primary care consultations in the past 12 months. Data were analysed using a zero-inflated Poisson regression framework...

The underlying mechanisms linking physical activity to better health are not fully understood. Here we examined the associations between physical activity and small circulatory molecules, the metabolome, to highlight relevant biological pathways. We examined plasma metabolites associated with self-reported physical activity among 2217 participants from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study. Metabolic profiling was conducted using the mass spectrometry-based Metabolon platform (LC/GC-MS), measuring 828 known metabolites...

BACKGROUND: Fine particulate matter (<mml:math xmlns:mml="https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>PM</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2.5</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math>) has been found to be detrimental to respiratory health of children, but few studies have examined the effects of prenatal <mml:math xmlns:mml="https://www...

To assess their roles in breast cancer diagnostics, we aimed to compare plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) levels with the circulating metabolome in a large breast screening cohort of women recalled for mammography, including healthy women and women with mammographically detected breast diseases, ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancer: the Breast Screening and Monitoring Study (BSMS). In 999 women, plasma was analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS) and then processed to isolate and quantify total cfDNA...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Twentieth-century communications law was built on the assumption of scarcity-radio spectrum as a scarce natural resource and telephone networks as a natural monopoly. Scarcity justified both rate regulation and content regulation of the services offered over these communications resources. Telephone networks were subject to the nondiscrimination rules of common carriage, and the Supreme Court in Red Lion Broadcasting v. FCC famously upheld the "fairness doctrine," which required that both sides of public issues be discussed fairly over broadcast media, expressly on the rationale that the scarcity of the airwaves justified content-based regulation under the First Amendment...

OBJECTIVE: Lung function testing is used in diagnosing asthma and assessing asthma control. Spirometry is most commonly used, but younger children can find performing this test challenging. Non-volitional tests such as airwave oscillometry (AOS) may be helpful in that population. We compared the success of spirometry and AOS in assessing bronchodilator responsiveness in children. METHODS: AOS was conducted alongside routine lung function testing. Resistance at 5Hz (R5), the difference between the resistance at 5 and 20Hz (R5-20) and the area under the reactance curve (AX) were assessed...

BACKGROUND: The British Police Service and Armed Forces are male-dominated occupations, characterised by frequent trauma exposure and intensive demands. Female police employees and military personnel may have unique experiences and face additional strains to their male counterparts. This analysis compared the levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hazardous/harmful alcohol consumption, and comorbidity in female police employees and military personnel. METHODS: Police data were obtained from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study (N = 14,145; 2007-2015) and military data from the Health and Wellbeing Cohort Study (N = 928; phase 2: 2007-2009 and phase 3: 2014-2016)...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Mepolizumab inhibits interleukin-5 (IL-5) activity, reduces exacerbation frequency and maintenance oral corticosteroid (OCS) dosage in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA). Some patients remain dependent on OCS despite anti-IL-5 treatment suggesting residual corticosteroid responsive mechanisms. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the clinical and anti-inflammatory effects of OCS in patients with SEA on mepolizumab. METHODS: We conducted a randomised, triple-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of prednisolone (0...

BACKGROUND: Effectiveness of mechanical assisted coughing with insufflation-exsufflation (MI-E) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) depends largely on severity of bulbar dysfunction, which can generate different upper-airway responses. The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of graphs generated by MI-E in ALS to detect airway obstruction and set parameters to achieve an effective mechanically assisted coughing. METHODS: This was a prospective study enrolling patients with ALS...

BACKGROUND: Health risk behaviours (e.g., harmful drinking and smoking) often cluster together and can be associated with poor mental health and stress. This study examined how health risk behaviours cluster together in individuals in a high stress occupation (UK Police Service), and the associations with mental health and job strain. METHODS: Data was obtained from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study (25,234 male and 14,989 female police employees), which included measures of health risk behaviours (alcohol use, diet, smoking status, physical activity), poor mental health (depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]), and job strain (low, high, active, passive)...

Podcasting is considered to be a communication medium with minimal barriers to entry, making it an attractive method for people, especially from historically underrepresented communities, to tell their own stories. Using the "Breaking Green Ceilings" podcast as a case study, we explore how podcasting serves as an ideal approach to effectively amplify the voices of environmentalists from historically underrepresented communities, specifically Disabled, Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. By sharing these stories, the podcast aims to challenge misconceptions and highlight the contributions that environmentalists from historically underrepresented communities make toward environmental sustainability at all levels-grassroots, academia, nonprofit, and government...

AIMS: Due to the stressful nature of policing, police employees are at risk of mental health problems and problematic alcohol use. We aim to determine the prevalence of hazardous and harmful alcohol use in the UK Police Service, and to explore the associations with job strain and mental health problems. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study (N = 40 986) included measures of alcohol consumption (total units in past week), mental health (depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) and job strain...

BACKGROUND: Children with Down syndrome are at risk for significant pulmonary co-morbidities, including recurrent respiratory infections, dysphagia, obstructive sleep apnea, and pulmonary vascular disease. Because the gold standard metric of lung function, spirometry, may not be feasible in children with intellectual disabilities, we sought to assess the feasibility of both airwave oscillometry and spirometry in children with Down syndrome. METHODS: Thirty-four children with Down syndrome aged 5-17 years were recruited...