Things in the library 9th October...

 Things to read...

Our online Reading Group met this last week and gave 'The Versions of Us' a score of 57%. Our next book is 'Ella Minnow Pea' by Mark Dunn. Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island's Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl's fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere. If you want to read along and join us for a chat we will be meeting online on Wednesday 4th November at 18:30 - 19:30 - contact the library for the joining link.

Things to collect...

If you are searching our library catalogue for an item and want to ensure it is here ready for you then use our Click & Collect button. There is a short video here by the developers of our system to show you how it works. 

Things about self-harm... 

A report had been published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Suicide and Self-Harm

Prevention supported by the Samaritans after their inquiry into the support available for young people who self-harm . Respondents to the inquiry made clear that the single most impactful change to improve the support available to young people who self-harm would be a system shift away from the current reliance on crisis interventions towards a preventative model of support. To facilitate this long term aim, planned investment in NHS mental health support for young people should be increased and brought forward more quickly than currently planned. Investment in community-based preventative services, often delivered by the third sector, will also be key.

Things about sugar...  

Public Health England publishes its third annual report on industry action to reduce sugar levels in products that contribute most to children’s sugar intakes. The latest report shows mixed progress across a range of food categories and sectors:

• 
  retailer and manufacturer branded breakfast cereals and yogurts and fromage frais have seen some of the biggest falls in sales weighted average sugar – around 13% – between the baseline (2015) and year 3 (2019)
• sugar levels in chocolate and sweet confectionery are relatively unchanged, while product sales have increased, growing 16% and 7% respectively between 2015 and 2019
• average overall sugar reduction across all food categories stands at 3%

The latest report also finds that marginal progress has been made in reducing sugar in products purchased and consumed in the eating out of home sector, such as cakes and puddings purchased from restaurants or cafes, although calories in these products have declined.

Things about kinship care...  

The report of the Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care First Thought Not Afterthought has been published. There are more than 180,000 children across the UK who are being raised by kinship carers – relatives or friends who have stepped in to help. They are often grandparents but also aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, or even family friends. Many more children are raised in kinship care than in the care system and many more than are adopted, yet awareness of this element of children’s social care is low and support for families is variable and often very limited. This crucial third pillar of the children’s social care system is an afterthought.  This report sets out a vision for a good quality system of kinship care where family are the first point of call and where kinship carers are valued and properly supported to deal with the many challenges they face. They present a series of recommendations which they believe the government, local authorities, and others should consider as a means to achieving that. 

Things to enjoy ... 

Sheffield's Off the Shelf festival of words starts today until 31 October. Something for everyone, even if it is online this year. Examples include Live with the Sheffield Laureate - Otis Mensah and Warda Yassin in conversation with Magid Magid; Ladies Can’t Climb Ladders – Jane Robinson ; the Number Bias – Sanne Blauw in conversation with Professor Wyn Morgan ; Loud Black Girls ; Archeology of Sheffield Castle and Gender Swapped Fairy Tales. Some items are live and some pre-recorded find out more.

Things to make...

The branches of my apple tree are almost touching the ground this year with the weight of fruit, so its another apple recipe for me this weekend...and some more chutney. This one caught my eye this week from the National Trust - spiced toffee apple cake.  

Things in the library 11 Jan...

Things happening around SCH...

Our previous Randomised Coffee Trial in November was a great success with most people, so we have decided to keep running RCTs probably 3 or 4 times a year. The sign up form for the next one is now available and we will be encouraging you to meet with your new partner during February. Please open the form link in Chrome or Firefox  to sign up. This time, if you wish, you can select to stay on our 'matching' list for all future RCTs (until you tell us to remove you) so that you don't have to sign up each time.

Things too sugary...

Children have already exceeded the maximum recommended sugar intake for an 18 year old by the time they reach their tenth birthday, according to Public Health England (PHE). This is based on their total sugar consumption from the age of 2. This figure comes as a new Change4Life campaign launches, supporting families to cut back on sugar and to help tackle growing rates of childhood obesity.

While children’s sugar intakes have declined slightly in recent years, they are still consuming around 8 excess sugar cubes each day, equivalent to around 2,800 excess sugar cubes per year. To help parents manage this, Change4Life is encouraging them to ‘Make a swap when you next shop’. Making simple everyday swaps can reduce children’s sugar intake from some products (yoghurts, drinks and breakfast cereals) by half – while giving them healthier versions of the foods and drinks they enjoy.

Things to attend...

Journal Club next week 15th January 13:00 to 14:00 in the Education and Skills Centre, F Floor, Stephenson Wing.discussing "Estimating risk of pneumonia in a prospective emergency department cohort" muffins will be provided and Journal Club is open to all health professionals. It is a fun, informal way of learning to criticise papers and gather evidence to change practice.

At each meeting a speaker presents a critical appraisal of a research paper, using a recognised appraisal tool such as CASP Group members then have an informal discussion to determine whether or not current practice should be altered in light of the presenter's findings

Things about safeguarding...

The National Children’s Bureau has published "Safeguarding early adopters: developing the learning on multi-agency safeguarding arrangements interim report – December 2018".  This report shares the emerging learning from the Safeguarding Early Adopters (EA) programme including activity from the programme so far; approaches the EA projects are testing and implementing; early principles for implementation; and learning examples from EA projects.

Things about single parent families...

The experience of single parenthood is more common than typically reported – and children’s wellbeing is not negatively affected by living in single parent households – according to a study led by the University of Sheffield. A report by Sumi Rabindrakumar, in her role as policy officer at the leading national charity working with single parent families, Gingerbread, and University of Sheffield researchers, found that public policy and research needs a more nuanced understanding of single parent family life – reflecting how households change over time.The study, carried out as part of the University’s Crook Public Service Fellowship scheme, explored the experiences of more than 27,800 households with children over a six-year period.

It found that, while surveys typically suggest that one in four families with children are headed by a single parent at any one point in time, data suggests that one in three families with children will have been a single parent family at some point over a six-year period.

Things about food insecurity...

Nearly one in five UK children under 15 lives in a home where the parents cannot afford to put food on the table, the environmental audit committee has said. The committee’s report, Hunger, Malnutrition and Food Insecurity in the UK,1 says that about 19% of under 15s live with an adult who is moderately or severely food insecure, defined as having “limited access to food . . . due to lack of money or other resources.” Of these, half are severely food insecure. The Food Foundation told the committee that this makes the UK “one of, if not the, worst performing nations in the European Union.”

Things that are useful...

Pinched from another health library's blog this week (University Hospitals of Leicester) is a useful article about highlighting multiple words at once in Chrome.

Things to buy...

We have some old editions of books available for sale - first come first served....please check out the trolley in the library or click this link to view the list . If you are registered with the library we can save items for you and we will add the the cost of them to your library account...please note this is a commitment to buy...we will not reserve items for you to look at and then decide you don't want to buy.

Things to read...

Our next reading group meeting will be on Wed Feb 6th at 17:15 with drinks and nibbles provided. The book to read if you have time is 'The Choice' by Edith Eger. Dr Eger shares her experience of the Holocaust and the remarkable stories of those she has helped ever since. Today, she is an internationally acclaimed psychologist whose patients include survivors of abuse and soldiers suffering from PTSD.

 'The Choice is a gift to humanity. One of those rare and eternal stories that you don't want to end and that leave you forever changed.'"- Desmond Tutu , Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Things to eat...

This Honeyed winter salad is easy to make and served warm.

Things in the library 22 June...

Things to help you sleep...
The University of Manchester yesterday unveiled new technology which could revolutionize displays in televisions, smartphones, projectors, computer screens and tablets. The researchers – who published their European Research Council funded study in the journal Sleep– say the technology could also mean that night workers are less likely to fall asleep at a computer. The device - which the researchers call a ‘melanopic display’ allows users to control the alerting effects of screen use and can also enhance the visual appearance of screens, say the team. The technology allows the amount of cyan light in images to be altered while keeping colours true. Conventional display is made up of red green and blue primary colours, which match up with three types of photoreceptors in our eyes. The team added a fourth ‘primary colour’ (cyan) which controls melanopsin cells in the eye which detect light, normally in the daytime. When the cyan light was turned up, the eleven participants in the trial felt more alert; when turned down, they felt more sleepy.

Things about sepsis...
Children’s immune systems could hold the key to preventing life-threatening infections and sepsis, a new study has revealed. The ground-breaking research conducted by an international team of scientists at the University of Sheffield and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has identified the key response that children use to control infections - making them resilient to many severe infections and sepsis. The new study, which is the first of its kind, has helped scientists identify key differences in cell-pathway activity in the blood of septic adults and children. Establishing the pathways that help prevent sepsis is a powerful new way to discover drugs for intervention against sepsis and provides direct insight into potential cures for the disease. The findings of the study are now being used to design drugs for research into prevention of other pathological diseases including Alzheimer’s.

Things about fathers...
Father involvement with children has increased in recent decades.‍ Research has demonstrated the positive contributions fathers make to their children’s health and well-being.‍ For instance, father involvement has been linked to decreased risk of prematurity and infant mortality.‍ It has also been associated with the father’s parenting confidence, positive father-child interactions, future father involvement,10 and healthier coparenting relationships.‍ Father involvement benefits fathers themselves; men who are involved with their children report greater physical and mental health.‍
Despite the accumulating evidence for the benefits of father involvement,
few early parent education programs have focused on including fathers. In this systematic review, they examined father-inclusive perinatal parent education
programs in the United States as they relate to a range of father outcomes.

Things about eating patterns...

Childhood nutrition is important in optimising growth, development and future health. This study compared dietary intakes of Australian children aged 4–8 years with

(i) Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) food group recommendations and 

(ii) age‐specific Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs), in addition to 

(iii) describing food group intakes of children meeting key NRVs. 

Significant discrepancies existed between contemporary dietary patterns of Australian children and national recommendations. 

Things about sugar...

Children in England are on track to consume around 4,800 cubes of sugar by the end of the year, more than double the maximum recommendation. Children aged 4 to 10 years should have no more than the equivalent of 5 to 6 cubes of sugar each day, but are consuming on average 13 cubes. This means they are on track to consume around 4,800 cubes of sugar by the end of the year, more than double the maximum recommendation. Sugary soft drinks remain one of the main contributors of free sugars to children’s diets, more than ice cream and puddings combined. Apart from fruit juice, which counts as one of our 5 A Day, the other main sources of sugar in children’s diets are:

• Sugary soft drinks (including squashes, juice drinks, energy drinks, cola and other fizzy drinks) 10%
• Buns, cakes, pastries and fruit pies 10%
• Sugars, including table sugar, preserves and sweet spreads 9%
• Biscuits 9%
• Breakfast cereals 8%
• Chocolate confectionery 7%
• Sugar confectionery 7%
• Yoghurt, fromage frais and other dairy desserts 6%
• Ice cream 5%
• Puddings 4%

Things about child mortality...

England and Sweden are both prosperous Western European countries with universal social security and healthcare, so one might expect mortality rates to be similar: not so. A major study in The Lancet highlights how badly England is doing compared with Sweden  The authors looked at national data for mortality between 2003 and 2012 for children aged 2 days to 4 years (deaths on days 0 and 1 were excluded because of possible discrepancies in live birth vs stillbirth classification). They identified a range of diagnostic and clinical data that were collected universally, and could be meaningfully compared between the two countries. Their interpretation is that excess child mortality in England compared with Sweden was largely explained by the unfavourable distribution of birth characteristics in England. Socioeconomic factors contributed to these differences through associations with adverse birth characteristics and increased mortality after 1 month of age. Policies to reduce child mortality in England could have most impact by reducing adverse birth characteristics through improving the health of women before and during pregnancy and reducing socioeconomic disadvantage.

Things to eat...

Well the exciting news is that after several months I now have a means of cooking food without having to use the microwave...just in time for a heatwave when we will want to eat salads! So as I have spinach leaves growing in the garden I think I will try this seedy spinach salad out....and I will need the cooker to fry the seeds.

Things in the library 20th April...

Things about mental health...
A new report from YoungMinds warns that while there is growing awareness about children and young people’s mental health, it is still far too difficult for young people with mental health problems to get the help they need. The #FightingFor report, which is being published to mark the charity’s 25th anniversary, shows that while most people believe that there is less stigma about mental health than there used to be, young people and parents face a huge range of barriers to finding the right support.

Things about critical appraisal...
Sarah will be running her next Critical Appraisal course for SCH staff on 14th May 9.30 - 13.00 - you need to book a place on this via Course Bookings on the intranet. You will learn how to critically appraise healthcare information and to understand why this is important. No previous knowledge required and free of charge but booking essential as it will not run unless there are sufficient attendees.

ScHARR  is running  a 1 day course on 8th May Instant Evidence Based Medicine: How to Critically Appraise Research . This course will look at how to understand and appraise research articles. You will learn how to quickly read a paper and grasp its key findings, how to interpret and understand key data, how to appraise a paper’s methods and assess its usefulness and value. You will look at ‘internal validity’ - how close the research has got to the ‘truth’, and ‘external validity’ - can the research be usefully applied in your own work situation? Overall the course aims to help you become a better user of research. Bookings will automatically close at midnight on Wednesday, 25th April 2018 cost £399

Things about transition services...
An article from Canadian Family Physician journal seeks to demonstrate how family physicians can contribute to a piece of the journey of improving quality-of-life outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) when they undergo the transition from adolescence to adulthood.





Things about obesity...

The article  'Family Functioning and Childhood Obesity Treatment: a Family Systems Theory-Informed Approach.' in Academic Pediatrics provides the background and evidence for use of FST, detail how families organise around weight-related behaviours that contribute to obesity, and based on their organisation what type of treatment may be beneficial, FST-informed or family-based behavioural interventions. Finally, a suggested family-based clinical algorithm is provided detailing the use of FST through assessment, intervention, and follow-up that can be refined over time by providers and researchers committed to viewing obesity in the context of the family and family dynamics.

Things about fruit juice...
Whether or not drinking 100% fruit juice causes poor health is controversial. Although 100% fruit juice may contain as much sugar as regular soda, it provides needed nutrients to diets. This article in Advances in Nutrition systematically reviews the current evidence of the association of 100% fruit juice consumption and chronic health conditions in children and adults. They focused on data from systematic reviews and meta-analyses about cardiometabolic health outcomes, liver disease, and caries. They conclude that aside from increased risk of tooth decay in children and small amounts of weight gain in young children and adults, there is no conclusive evidence that consumption of 100% fruit juice has adverse health effects. Guidelines from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics and Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommending that 100% fruit juice may be consumed in moderation are consistent with the available evidence and should be used to inform food policies.

Things to eat...

With the welcome return of the sun this week, I thought I would pick Minted melon, tomato & prosciutto salad today and it's particularly useful to those of us without kitchens at the moment!

Things in the library 28 April...

Things about emergency care...
Quality Watch published a report this week 'Emergency hospital care for  children and young people'. This QualityWatch Focus On looks at children and young people’s use of hospitals, with particular reference to emergency admissions during the 10-year period from 2006/07 to 2015/16. They conclude:
" This report has shown that the previously growing pressures on emergency hospital care from
increasing use by children and young people continue but not at the same rate of increase as before. While the small selection of indicators we looked at suggest that emergency hospital care quality has been maintained, of potential concern is the increase in A&E attendances and emergency admissions in the last few years, coupled with worrying trends for specific conditions and age groups.
Hospital emergency care may be appropriate for many children and young people but there are also those who may, with appropriate support, be safely cared for outside an emergency care setting. This report has identified potential areaswhere improvements in care outside the hospital emergency care setting may lead to reductions in A&E attendances and emergency admissions. However, if there are insufficient resources and alternatives to the emergency hospital care setting or other weak links in the system, it may become difficult to reduce hospital emergency care activity and improve quality of care for children and young people."

Things about young people's health...
The Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH) works closely with policymakers, young people, practitioners and researchers to promote awareness about young people’s health needs. In this update 'Young People’s Health - where are we up to?' they set out the latest policy and practice debates, recent data on trends, and recommendations for ‘where next’. Their key messages are:

• Many trends in health behaviours and health outcomes for young people are going in a positive direction, but there are also some more worrying indicators. 
• We are particularly concerned about the implications of new substance use behaviours; relatively high rates of sexually transmitted infections; the lack of a reduction in obesity; helping young people manage long term conditions and warning signs that mental health problems may be increasing.
• Although it is important to raise the profile of particular health conditions, we argue that we need more effort now on cross-cutting themes in young people’s health
• These themes include the overlap between physical and mental health; promoting young people’s health in existing outcomes frameworks; understanding the role of adverse childhood experiences; promoting youth friendly health services; ensuring the most vulnerable young people have equal access to health services; and maximising the importance of the education setting for health promotion.

Things for us oldies...

You may have seen the media reporting that physical exercise is a promising intervention to prevent or delay cognitive decline in individuals aged 50 years and older...but if you want to read the actual review article you can find it here 'Exercise interventions for cognitive function in adults older than 50: a systematic review with meta-analysis'

Things about sexual abuse...

'Making Noise' film on YouTube puts the focus on children and young people’s voices for positive change after sexual abuse. It is a project produced by The International Centre, University of Bedfordshire, in collaboration with the NSPCC. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner commissioned the original report. Read the full report at https://www.beds.ac.uk/making-noise

Things about sugar...
The NHS is stepping up its campaign against obesity, diabetes and tooth decay by announcing that sugary drinks will be banned in hospital shops beginning from next year unless suppliers voluntarily take action to cut their sales over the next twelve months. WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Greggs, the SUBWAY(r) brand, Medirest, ISS and the Royal Voluntary Service are the leading suppliers who have pledged to cut sales. Remaining retailers are now being urged to join them. By April 2018 hospitals must make further efforts, including:

• 60 per cent of confectionery and sweets stocked do not exceed 250 kcal, rising to 80 per cent of confectionery and sweets in 2018/19.
• 60 per cent of pre-packed sandwiches and other savoury pre-packed meals to contain 400 kcal or less per serving and do not exceed five grams of saturated fat per 100g, moving to 75 per cent in 2018/19.

Things about precision medicine...

Children with Cancer UK,  is providing £1.5m funding to advance Precision Medicine in the UK, and make this field of treatment a reality for children and young adults diagnosed with cancer. 

Not generally available on the NHS, the ambition is to get Precision Medicine off the ground in the UK so it can be adopted nationally, available for every young cancer patient who would otherwise face less effective, more toxic treatment. This includes:

• Improved treatments for high-risk cancers with extremely poor survival rates
• The reduction of the long-term adverse impact of aggressive treatments
• Better understanding of the causes of cancer in children and young people
• The integration of advanced genetic technologies directly into clinical practice

Precision Medicine is an emerging approach to disease treatment and prevention and takes into account individual variations in genes, environment and lifestyle. Precision therapies target specific changes in individual patients’ tumour DNA, allowing for more effective treatments while reducing toxic side effects. It has huge potential to improve cure rates and reduce the burden of toxicity on young cancer patients through better targeted chemotherapy, introducing advances in immunotherapy and using other evolving technologies.

Things about workplace well-being...
There is strong and growing evidence that work and health and wellbeing are closely and strongly linked and need to be addressed together. In June 2014, Public Health England (PHE) published a set of national standards for workplace health for the first time — the Workplace Wellbeing Charter which was developed with the charity Health@Work and Liverpool County Council and was based on their scheme and others from around the country.
This study 'Workplace Wellbeing CharterAnalysis of take-up and impact' investigates the take-up and impact of the WWC, maps available data on the number of organisations accredited with the Charter across England and provides insights into a diverse range of organisations that have invested in the well-being of staff in their workplaces.

Things about reading & refreshments...
The first meeting of our Reading Group will take place on Wednesday 3 May at 17:15 in the library for any SCH staff or parents of long-term patients - at this first meeting we will be choosing the books that we will be reading as we meet the first Wednesday of every month. Come along or contact us for further details.

Things to make...
Kate's choice this week 'Rhubarb & custard cake' which sounds easy and delicious.