Things in the library 15th December...

Christmas greetings to all our readers

Things to eat and drink...

Blog readers (and others) can call into the library next week and enjoy a free mini chocolate roll and some non-alcoholic mulled 'wine' with us (while stocks last) - just come to the counter and ask.

Things about Marmite...
The next journal club will be Thursday 21 December, 8.00 to 9.00 in the Education and Skills Centre, F Floor, Stephenson Wing. Title: Marmite and Migraines: Should we be Recommending Riboflavin as Migraine Prophylaxis in Young People? Contact the library for the papers.

Things about the library closing hours...

Next Thursday 21 Dec the library will be closed during the day as we will be enjoying ourselves stocktaking.....dust...heavy lifting....burn a few calories before Christmas feasting... we are open again on Friday 22nd Dec. 

We are then closed from Dec 25th to Jan 1st and we re-open on Tuesday 2nd Jan at our normal hours of 8:45 to 19:00. As always a 'book returns' box is situated outside the library  when we are closed.




Things coming soon...
New Year, New Resolutions and a New Service...we are launching a new service in January...find out more in the New Year...watch this space!


Things about organ donation...

The government have launched a consultation about organ and tissue donation. They wants to know what people think about proposed changes in which people are considered willing to be an organ donor after their death, unless they have ‘opted out’. The defining issues of the new system are:

• how much say families have in their deceased relative’s decision to donate their organs
• when exemptions to ‘opt-out’ would be needed, and what safeguards would be necessary
• how a new system might affect certain groups depending on age, disability, race or faith

Things about reading...

A small study was published in Acta Paediatrica this week that compared the time spent using screen-based media or reading books on the functional connectivity of the reading-related brain regions in children aged 8-12. They found that time spent reading was positively correlated with higher functional connectivity between the seed area and left-sided language, visual and cognitive control regions. In contrast, screen time was related to lower connectivity between the seed area and regions related to language and cognitive control. They conclude that: screen time and time spent reading books showed different effects on functional connectivity between the visual word form area and language, visual and cognitive-control regions of the brain. These findings underscore the importance of children reading to support healthy brain development and literacy and limiting screen time. 

Things about breastfeeding...

Offering new mothers financial incentives may significantly increase low breastfeeding rates, new research from the University of Sheffield and the University of Dundee has found. More than 10,000 new mothers across South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire were involved in the ground breaking study which offered shopping vouchers worth up to £120 if their babies received breast milk (breastfeeding or expressed milk) at two days, 10 days and six weeks old. A further £80 of vouchers was available if their babies continued to receive breast milk up to six months. Breastfeeding levels in the UK are some of the lowest in the world – in some areas just 12 per cent of six to eight week-old babies are breastfed. The trial, funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative and Public Health England, saw an increase of six percentage points in the areas where the scheme was offered, compared with those areas where the scheme was not available. Full article in JAMA Pediatrics is available via Open Athens for SCH staff. 

Things about Medical Education...

Coaching has been employed successfully in the competitive sports, professional music, and business and corporate worlds. It is now emerging as a training modality in medical education.This paper reviews the current evidence on coaching strategies for doctors and medical students and identifies strong evidence to support coaching as a method to improve technical skills. There is great scope for further studies investigating the power of coaching in medical students and doctors.

Something Paddington would like...

I love the sound of this Nigel Slater recipe for Marmalade pears with vanilla ice cream (scroll down the page) and hope to try it out over the Festive Season....without getting too sticky! 

This is the last blog of 2017 so we look forward to presenting you with further 'things' in 2018 and hope you all have

a Happy New Year!

Things in the library 8th December..

Things for next year...
We had our Winter Miscellany meeting of the Reading Group this week with festive/wintry poems and extracts along with seasonal fare. We also choose most of what we will be reading next year so here are the dates we will be discussing the books chosen. If you would like to join us we are an informal and friendly group and you would be very welcome...or you might want to read along with us at a distance.

3rd January   Hogfather by Terry Pratchett	4th   July    The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
7th  February  Cider House Rules by John Irving	1st  August    The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by D.Moggach
7th  March    Eyam: plague village (by David Paul - there is another book with same title)	5th   September   Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
4th  April   Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman	3rd   October    The Children Act by Ian McEwan
2nd  May   Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde	7th   November  Perhaps a ghost story?
6th  June  The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman	5th    December  Choosing books for the next year

Things about pneumonia...

A recent publication 'Childhood community-acquired pneumonia: A review of etiology- and antimicrobial treatment studies' summarises and critically reflects on the available evidence for the epidemiology, etiology and antimicrobial management of childhood CAP worldwide.



Things about breathing...

A statement has been produced by a European Respiratory Society Task Force to summarise the evidence and current practice on the diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in children aged 1–23 months.

Things about kinship care...
Grandparent’s Plus has published a report on the experiences and outcomes for young people growing up in kinship care, compared with the progress of care leavers and their peers in the general population. Findings from interviews with 53 young people aged 16-26 who had lived in kinship care for at least two years and 43 kinship carers include: outcomes for young people in kinship care were generally better than those for young people in other types of care, but not as good as in the general population; and many carers did not feel well supported at the point that they took on their caring role.




Things about Sheffield...
How well do you know your city? Are you  ever short of attractions to which to take visitors?  Need a Christmas present that is a bit different? You may be interested in a book published this week '111 Places in Sheffield That You Shouldn’t Miss' uncovers the quirkier side of Sheffield and picks out some of the city’s hidden highlights. From its bars, beauty spots and industrial heritage, to the room where the Arctic Monkeys cut their first album, author Michael Glover uncovers the quirkier side of Sheffield and picks out some the city’s hidden highlights.
Glover, an acclaimed art critic, poet and native of Sheffield, was supported by the University of Sheffield and Marketing Sheffield in the researching and writing of the guide book. Sheffield joins the tourist hotspots of York, Liverpool, Bath and Cambridge in being one of the select few UK cities to be featured in the 111 Places series outside London. Can be bought from usual sources and they currently have some copies in Blackwell's bookshop at the University of Sheffield (Jessop West building).

Things about email...
Email is an essential method of communication within academic medical environments and elsewhere. There is a growing body of literature that focuses on provider-to-patient communication in addition to studies examining the intersection of social networking and professionalism. Relatively little research exists, however, regarding the components of professional email interactions or "best practices" for electronic correspondence among colleagues, faculty, and trainees. After reviewing the existing literature the authors of this article"Are You SURE You Want to Send That?" created a practical approach for skillful email construction; the SURE model proposes a simplified framework that teaching institutions can use to improve interdisciplinary interactions and enhance email professionalism.

Things about digital health and care...
This two-day congress provides an established forum for health and care professionals to come together and learn from successful adoptions and practical implementations of digital health and care.
10 - 11 July 2018  The King's Fund, London. Project themes are:

• Prevention and improving access to care
• Cross-sector working
• Care design and delivery

The deadline for submitting projects is Friday 15 December 2017

Things about ADHD...
Adolescents experiencing social anxiety often experience co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Yet, assessing for social anxiety poses challenges given the already time-consuming task of distinguishing social anxiety from other commonly co-occurring internalizing conditions (e.g., generalized anxiety, major depression). Assessors need short screening devices to identify socially anxious adolescents in need of intensive ADHD assessments. A six-item version of the ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-6) was originally developed to identify adults who likely meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD, but its psychometric properties have yet to be examined among adolescents. The authors of this article 'Validity of Adolescent and Parent Reports on the Six-Item ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-6) in Clinical Assessments of Adolescent Social Anxiety' tested the psychometric properties of the ASRS-6 when administered in clinical assessments for adolescent social anxiety.

Things to eat...
For an easy and comforting meal to make this snowy (probably) weekend how about meatballs and spaghetti - if you make more than you need they freeze well and make a useful meal to have as a standby. You can freeze the sauce and meatballs separately or combined. To freeze together, mix the roasted meatballs into sauce and freeze in portions. Defrost thoroughly overnight in the fridge, then heat in a covered pan until the sauce and meatballs are piping hot.

Stay warm and safe this weekend!

Things in the library 1st Dec...

Things for clinical answers...

We often mention how useful TRIP Databse is for evidence based medicine and it just got even better. They have just announced that DynaMed Plus content has been added to TRIP. Even though our institution does not currently subscribe to DynaMed you will be able to access 10 free 'views' each month. Remember that you need to sign into TRIP and have a current NHSAthens account  or University of Sheffield login to access the PRO features of TRIP without charge.

Things about yoga...

During the 20th century, yoga became increasingly recognised outside India, and over the past decades it has continued to grow in popularity worldwide as a system for promoting health and well-being. While modern yoga often focuses on physical poses and is sometimes thought of as a type of exercise, the practice usually incorporates one or more of the mental or spiritual elements that are traditionally part of yoga, such as relaxation, concentration, or meditation. For this reason, yoga is considered a mind-body exercise. There are currently many different types or schools of yoga, each with a different emphasis on and approach to practice. It is widely thought that some of these yoga practices may help treat or prevent physical or mental illnesses, and improve overall quality of life. There is therefore a need for information on the potential health benefits and harms of yoga.
This Cochrane Library Special Collection of systematic reviews on yoga focuses on reviews evaluating the effectiveness of yoga for improving physical or mental symptoms and quality of life in a range of health conditions. It has been developed to bring the best available evidence on the health-related effects of yoga to the attention of the general public, patients, health professionals, and other decision makers, and to inform choices on the use of yoga to improve health and well-being.

Things about searching for evidence...

If you want a basic introduction to literature searching skills to access online you might be interested in ‘Building the Foundations’  three modules to enable users to assess their current level of skill in literature searching, find out more about the resources available and get started planning a search. The modules are aimed at anyone doing a literature search on a health related topic. They are primarily targeted towards novice searchers or those who would like a refresher.  Each module has a glossary explaining key terminology in further detail.
Module 1 Introduction to searching  
Module 2 Where do I start searching? 
Module 3 How do I start to develop a search strategy? 
A login is not required to access the modules. To by-pass the need to log in, click continue when presented with the sign-in pop-up. If you wish to track your learning along with other modules within e-Learning for Healthcare, you can login with your NHS OpenAthens account.

For more in-depth and personalised training on literature searching then book a free individual 1 hour session with us via our Book a Librarian service.

Things about children in hospitals...
The CQC have published the results of their latest survey (2016), which looks at the experiences of children, young people and their parents and carers attending hospital for treatment as an inpatient or day case. Overall children and young people’s experiences of inpatient and day case care were mostly positive. The majority of children and young people said they were well looked after while in hospital, staff were friendly and that they received answers to their questions. Most parents and carers reported positive experiences for how their child’s pain was managed and for receiving enough information about new medication. For more information on key findings for England, please see the statistical release, which provides the results for all questions and contextual policy information.
The survey results suggest there is scope for improvement in a number of areas, including:

• Children and young people having enough things to do whilst in hospital
• Involving children and young people in decision making
• Being treated on age appropriate wards

These results for NHS Trusts show how trusts performed on individual questions in the survey. The technique used to analyse these results allows the CQC to identify which trusts they can confidently say performed 'better', 'worse' or 'about the same' when compared with other trusts.

Things about perinatal deaths...
The MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Confidential Enquiry Report 2017 has been published this week and focuses on term, singleton, intrapartum stillbirths and intrapartum-related neonatal deaths. Since the last confidential enquiry into intrapartum stillbirths and intrapartum-related deaths in 1993-1995, overall stillbirth rates have reduced by just over a fifth and neonatal death rates by over a third. Nevertheless the UK rates are still high compared with other European and other high income countries. Whilst term intrapartum stillbirths and intrapartum-related neonatal deaths account for only a small proportion of extended perinatal mortality rates, improvements in care during labour, delivery and immediately following birth should reduce such cases apart from those that are inevitable. This enquiry focuses on intrapartum-related deaths, specifically those born at term, excluding major congenital anomalies but including those anomalies where the cause of death was felt to be related to the intrapartum period rather than the anomaly. The premise of the enquiry was if a baby was determined to be alive at the onset of labour at term then the expected outcome would be a healthy
infant.  Read the full text http://bit.ly/2BzAFou

Things about our reading group...
Our last meeting of 2017 is on Wed 6th December...and it's the time to choose what we will read for the next few months. So if you would like to join us do come along to the library at 17:15 for seasonal fare and a chat about books. The book we will be discussing in January is Terry Pratchett's 'Hogfather' perfect Christmas reading.

Thinking about Pratchett reminds me of a quote from one of his books (Judgement Day) which I feel could apply to any conference delegate (as well as wizards) ..."The senior wizards, eyeing the chocolate biscuits on the tray brought in by the tea lady, listened with as much attention as could be expected from wizards momentarily afflicted with chocolate starvation."

So something chocolatey...
These crunchy chocolate and orange biscotti could be made as a gift or enjoyed  with a cup of coffee or more decadently dipped in hot cocoa!