Things in the library 2 Nov...

Things to stitch...
According to this report there are some who are concerned that the newest surgical recruits are not as dexterous as former surgeons due to having less experience in doing craftwork. I'm sure our surgeons all sew beautifully...but perhaps we should start an embroidery group in the library along with our reading group!

Things about Quality of Life...
Quality of life (QOL) measures are increasingly used when important prognostication and treatment decisions need to be made in the care of a critically ill child. Unfortunately, health-care professionals and families experience difficulties when attempting to accurately predict and estimate QOL for a patient. Aspects such as subjectivity, complexity and adaptation to illness play an important role in how QOL is ultimately experienced. This often leads to inaccurate estimates of QOL, when performed by individuals other than the patient, such as clinicians or family members. In order to make decisions in the best interest of the patient, a partnership between families and clinicians must be fostered, based on communication, trust and mutual understanding of values. This article in Paediatric Respiratory Reviews attempts to describe some of the challenges that come into play when assessing QOL for a patient and will provide tools for building a clinician-family partnership in the decision-making process.

Things about air pollution...
This WHO report summarises the latest scientific knowledge on the links between exposure to air pollution and adverse health effects in children. It is intended to inform and motivate individual and collective action by health care professionals to prevent damage to children’s health from exposure to air pollution. Air pollution is a major environmental health threat. Exposure to fine particles in both the ambient environment and in the household causes about seven million premature deaths each year. Ambient air pollution (AAP) alone imposes enormous costs on the global economy, amounting to more than US$ 5 trillion in total welfare losses in 2013.

The evidence is clear: air pollution has a devastating impact on children’s health.
says the report

Recent data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that air pollution has a vast and terrible impact on child health and survival. Globally, 93% of all children live in environments with air pollution levels above the WHO guidelines. More than one in every four deaths of children under 5 years is directly or indirectly related to environmental risks.

Although air pollution is a global problem, the burden of disease attributable to particulate matter in air is heaviest in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in the WHO African, South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions. Poverty is correlated with high exposure to environmental health risks.

Things about conversations...
This Ask Listen Do resource shares tips for health, social care and education organisations and practitioners with the aim of making feedback, concerns and complaints easier for people with a learning disability, autistic people, families and carers.





Things about nature...
It is commonly believed that nature has positive impacts on children’s health, including physical, mental and social dimensions. This review focuses on how accessibility to, exposure to and engagement with nature affects the mental health of children and teenagers. This review showed significant positive findings on the benefits of nature for all mental health outcomes; however, ADD/ADHD, overall mental health, stress, resilience and HRQOL were the only outcomes that demonstrated more positive significant findings over non-significant findings. Several outcomes (emotional well-being, self-esteem, depression) were associated with a greater number of non-significant findings than positive significant findings, supporting the inconclusive nature of the evidence reported in previous reviews. The authors believe that "By prioritising investments of natural spaces at all levels of government as well as within school districts, children have a better chance of receiving the benefits of interacting with nature."

Things about C*********...
Reluctant as I am to do things Christmassy this early in the year I spotted on the webpage for Weston Park Gallery (across the road from the hospital) that this December, they’ll once again transform the Arctic World gallery into Santa’s North Pole ho-ho-home. You can take the family along to meet the man himself, who’ll be there with a warm welcome, quality presents and plenty of Christmas cheer. To make the visit to see Santa stress-free they have a new online booking – just pick the day and timeslot that suits you £7 per child.

Things Roman...

A little bit more grown up and if archaeology interests you then there is a lunchtime talk at Weston Museum on Tuesday 27 November on Roman finds in Yorkshire. Ranging from evidence of military activity and the cult of Mithras, to the personal grooming habits of the Romans, and coin hoards and monumental statues, this talk will highlight some of the most interesting Roman finds from Yorkshire that have been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and use them to illustrate a brief history of the Roman period in Yorkshire.

Things to eat...
I am hosting a bonfire party for 26 people ranging in age from 8 weeks to 86 years this Saturday...so hope it doesn't rain! So with jacket potatoes on my mind and apparently it being World Vegan Month in November here is a nice sounding recipe for Vegan chickpea curry jacket sweet potatoes.

Things in the library 27 July...

Things the government says...
The Government response to the joint report of the Education and Health and Social Care Committees on 'Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: a green paper' has been published.

Things about HPV...
It was announced this week that adolescent boys will be offered the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine to protect them from cancer. The vaccine not only protects men from HPV-related diseases – such as oral, throat and anal cancer – but also helps reduce the overall number of cervical cancers in women, though a process known as ‘herd immunity’.The extension of the vaccine to boys follows the success of England’s HPV vaccination programme for girls and the recent introduction of one for men who have sex with men. The programme is expected to vaccinate thousands of boys in England each year. This statement sets out the conclusions of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on extending the HPV vaccination programme to adolescent boys in the UK.

Things about quality of life...
Epilepsy in children negatively impacts on caregiver quality of life (QOL). The study [in Journal of neurology] aimed to evaluate the relationships between patient factors [demographics, clinical factors, health-related quality of life (HRQL)], contextual factors (socio-economic factors), caregiver mood, and caregiver QOL, and whether family factors mediate the relationship between patient HRQL and caregiver QOL. They conclude that:

"Patient HRQL and caregiver mood were more important correlates of caregiver QOL than seizure severity in medically intractable epilepsy. The findings are significant in delineating variables (caregiver mood and family factors) that are potentially modifiable, and show promise for improving caregiver QOL."

Things about parental pre-operative anxiety...

This systematic review and meta-analysis looks at studies assessing the effectiveness of audiovisual (AV) interventions aimed at reducing anxiety in parents whose children are undergoing elective surgery. Their primary outcome was parental anxiety. Secondary outcomes included children’s preoperative anxiety and postoperative outcomes; parental satisfaction, knowledge, and need for anesthesia information. If you cannot access the full text of this article (or any other) than SCH staff can request from us using our online form 

Things to read...
It is our August reading group meeting next week (Wed 17:15 in the library) we will be discussing 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' so do come and join us over a drink and nibbles. Our next book for Sept is the classic 'Catch 22'. Don't forget we have quite a large collection of leisure books available for you to borrow for your summer holiday reading - come and have a browse of check what we have online.



Things flapping about...

This summer we have constantly been serenaded by seagulls...no the tide hasn't come in to Sheffield ...they are nesting close by. This week we spotted the juvenile birds walking around on the roof.



Things to make without heat...
If you are finding it too hot to cook at the moment there is a nice collection of recipes here to tempt you

Things in the library 20 Jan ...

New Things about TRIP....
One of Trip’s main aims is to help users find the best available evidence with the minimum of effort. The latest update has some innovative new features, all there to support your evidence search. Don't forget that for a second year you have access to PRO features by registering as NHS staff.

• Answer Engine. They’ve been discussing this for nearly five years and seriously working on it for over twelve months. Obtain instant answers to some clinical questions, seamlessly integrated in to your search experience.
• SmartSearch. An useful system to help speed up your search and to help users avoid missing important documents. They analyse the articles you click and use that to predict other articles that are highly relevant.
• Search suggestions. Incorporated in to your results allowing you to easily produce a more focused search.
• Broken links. Arguably a minor upgrade, but very important. Broken links can be a terrible user experience. Take out your frustrations by hitting the new ‘Broken link’ feature under each result.

Things about transition and epilepsy...

A recent article in Epilepsy & Behavior discusses 'The transition from pediatric to adult care for youth with epilepsy: Basic biological, sociological, and psychological issues'.  Below they summarise a few of the broad concerns that arise from this review.

• Brain development – Impulsive pleasure seeking and risky behaviour may be the result of an imbalance between frontal and limbic maturation and should be anticipated.
• Endocrinological development – Puberty has a major effect on development, personality, and behaviour.
• Sexual development – Peer relationship problems may interfere with normal sexual development. Sexual debut is early in youth with epilepsy and long-term sexual experiences are often unsatisfactory.
• Psychological development – Normal developmental stages in adolescence may be disrupted by epilepsy. While epilepsy may contribute to adjustment problems, some of these issues are related to normal developmental concerns. Family dysfunction has a strong effect on maturation of adolescents with epilepsy. Severe behaviour problems with intellectual disability and/or autistic spectrum disorder are not typically related to family dysfunction and have multiple etiologies.
• Bone health – The degree of risk for and mechanisms of bone disorders in childhood-onset epilepsy are unclear. For those at increased risk, serum vitamin D and DXA screening may be useful along with supplemental vitamin D.

Things about 3D printing of drugs for children....

An article this week in AAPS PharmSciTech discusses the potential for using 3D printing for paediatric drugs the abstract is below. This article is part of a topical collection on the theme Pediatric Drug Development and Dosage Form Design.

The first medicine manufactured by three-dimensional (3D) printing was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The advantages of printing as a manufacturing route enabling more flexibility regarding the dose, and enlarging individual treatment options, have been demonstrated. There is a particular need for flexible drug delivery solutions when it comes to children. Printing as a new pharmaceutical manufacturing technology brings manufacturing closer to the patient and can easily be adjusted to the required dosing scheme, offering more flexibility for treatments. Printing of medicine may therefore become the manufacturing route of choice to provide tailored and potentially on-demand treatments for patients with individual needs. This paper intends to summarize and discuss the state of the art, the crucial aspects which should be taken into account, and the still-open questions, in order to make 3D printing a suitable manufacturing route for pediatric drugs.

Things about PKU...
A Key European guidelines for the diagnosis and management of patients with phenylketonuria was published in the Lancet recently. From the 70 recommendations formulated, in this Review they describe ten that they deem as having the highest priority.

An e-book for surgeons...
We have recently purchased an e-book copy of  the latest edition of Spitz Operative Pediatric Surgery for SCH staff. Follow the link and login with your free NHS Open Athens account.
Not a surgeon???.....then login to the e-book portal and search for what you are interested in. You can browse books free for 5 mins and if there is a resource which you think will be well used by your department ask us if we can purchase it.

Things with crunch...
As a quick easy and quite healthy dessert why not try these Honey nut crunch pears?  This recipe uses cornflakes but I expect other cereals would work well too!

Things in the library 13 Jan...

Things about the NHS...

The NHS indicators were reported in a briefing paper for House of Commons. The full report can be read here it covers areas such as: A&E, waiting lists, delayed transfers of care, staffing levels, and demand for hospital services.

Things about nicotine...

An article about the developmental toxicity of nicotine was published this month. The authors conclude "The evidence that nicotine adversely affects fetal and adolescent development is sufficient to warrant public health measures to protect pregnant women, children, and adolescents from nicotine exposure." Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews; Jan 2017; vol. 72 ; p. 176-189

Things about anaesthetics...

A recent review article has looked at intraperitoneal local anesthetic (IPLA) in paediatric surgery. They conclude "IPLA appears promising in pediatric surgery. The high absorptive capacity of the peritoneum and high peritoneal surface area to volume ratio in children presents a dose limitation. In comparison to adult surgery, IPLA has been understudied in pediatric surgery." European Journal of Pediatric Surgery; Dec 2016; vol. 26 (no. 6); p. 469-475





Things about priorities ...

The King's Fund have published a list of what they believe will be the priorities for the NHS this year. These are:

• Supporting new care models centred on the needs of patients
•  Strengthening and implementing sustainability and transformation plans 
• Improving productivity and delivering better value 
• Developing and strengthening leadership at all levels 
• Securing adequate funding for health and social care 

Things about Quality Standards...
NICE has published two new Quality Standards.

• Tuberculosis (QS141) - covers preventing, identifying and managing latent and active tuberculosis in children, young people and adults.
• Learning disabilities: identifying and managing mental health problems (QS142) - covers the prevention, assessment and management of mental health problems in people with learning disabilities in all settings (including health, social care, education, and forensic and criminal justice). It also covers family members, carers and care worker

Things about mental health...

The Government’s response to the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health has been published 

Things about online grooming...

Leicestershire Police has made its film to raise awareness of the dangers of online grooming publicly available. Based on the story of teenager Kayleigh Haywood, the film highlights how quickly and easily children can be groomed online without them or those around them knowing it is happening. 'Kayleigh’s love story' is available to watch online in eight different versions, including a signed version, and audio described version and versions translated into five languages. It has previously been shown to schoolchildren aged 11 and above in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland in controlled screenings by specially trained officers. More information here.

Things with a warm glow...

University of Sheffield restaurant (above the Student's Union) will be having a week of the Danish celebration of Hygge from Monday 23rd to Friday 27th January – their menus will be dedicated to this wellbeing celebration and they will play host to a Hygge After Work Celebration on Thursday 26th January.

Hygge (pronounced hue-gah) is a Danish word, which means the feeling or mood that comes from the genuine pleasure in making ordinary, everyday things more meaningful, beautiful or special. 

In essence, Hygge means creating a nice, warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people around you. The warm glow of candlelight, friends and family, and of course eating and drinking. With the dark winter days and nights upon us, they will be taking the time to celebrate!

Make the most of Hygge Week, with warm candle light and nice wholesome food. Sooth your spirit and soul and relax, taking the time to focus on your wellbeing.

Things to eat...
Sarah made this curried chickpea salad recently and recommends it. Have a cosy time at home this weekend with these warming flavours and with some candles to make it more Hygge!