University of Salford

<h2>Abstract</h2><h3>Background</h3> A new role within an intestinal failure unit was devised, which involved training a dietitian to undertake the role of an Advanced Practitioner working within the medical team. In the United Kingdom, dietitians can only undertake supplementary prescribing qualifications, and this study evaluates the safety and effectiveness of this type of prescribing practice in an intestinal failure Advanced Practitioner role. <h3>Materials and methods</h3> All adult inpatients with types 2 and 3 intestinal failure were included. An appropriate clinical management plan was agreed by the multidisciplinary team and a medical and surgical consultant reviewed the prescriptions made, including the clinical indication and rationale. Descriptive statistical analysis was used and data presented as means (+/- standard deviation) for continuous variables and percentages for categorical variables. <h3>Results</h3> A total of 1030 prescription episodes were made by the supplementary prescriber in the 6-month study period. Of these episodes, 96.2 % (<i>n</i> = 991) related to parenteral or intravenous fluid prescriptions; 13.6 % (<i>n</i> = 135) of which related to a combination of parenteral support and intravenous fluid prescriptions and 0.2 % (<i>n</i> = 2) of these episodes were for resuscitation purposes. No prescription amendments were required following a weekly review by the medical or surgical consultant. <h3>Conclusion</h3> This study demonstrates that a dietetic-based Advanced Practitioner in a busy intestinal failure unit effectively and safely incorporated supplementary prescribing into their role. Supplementary prescribing was used to initiate a range of prescriptions, as part of a clinical management plan, and all were deemed to be the optimal prescription choice for the indication identified.

Corporate governance reforms in emerging and frontier markets frequently assume that strengthening board oversight, audit committees, and ownership monitoring will improve audit quality and enhance firm value. Yet, in weak institutional environments, these mechanisms often function symbolically rather than substantively. This study rethinks the governance–audit–value nexus by integrating Agency Theory, Institutional Theory, and the concept of symbolic governance to explain why governance may appear structurally robust while failing to constrain managerial discretion. Using panel data from Ghanaian listed firms between 2015 and 2023, the analysis shows that audit committee independence and board independence are negatively associated with both audit quality and firm value, indicating that formal independence without expertise, authority, or enforcement capacity does not translate into meaningful oversight. By contrast, institutional and managerial ownership positively influence both outcomes, suggesting that incentive alignment and informed monitoring can substitute for weak formal governance. Foreign ownership improves firm value but does not consistently enhance audit quality, while macroeconomic conditions such as inflation and GDP growth further shape firm performance. The study advances the literature by reconceptualising governance effectiveness in weak institutional environments, demonstrating that governance mechanisms may exist in form without functioning in substance. The findings underscore the need for governance reforms that prioritise enforcement capacity, board expertise, and audit committee competence rather than structural compliance alone.

Sedation during Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is challenging due to altered pharmacokinetics. At Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Wythenshawe Hospital, the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale is the standard tool for sedation monitoring; however, it lacks precision in assessing deep sedation. Bispectral Index (BIS) monitoring offers an objective assessment but remains underused, partly because of limited nursing training. This article presents the implementation of small-group teaching sessions (SGTS) on ECMO sedation and BIS monitoring, integrated into existing ECMO refresher training. The sessions included interactive presentations, followed by anonymous feedback collection to evaluate perceptions of the clarity, relevance, appropriateness and usefulness of the SGTS. Sixty-one staff members attended, and 44 provided feedback. All respondents indicated that their learning needs were met, and 93% reported confidence in using BIS independently. The training was highly rated for clarity, relevance and practical value. Overall, our SGTS approach improved nurses' understanding and confidence in BIS monitoring and ECMO sedation, supporting broader clinical adoption and highlighting the value of continued professional education.

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> Current forecasting models for landslides and debris flows mostly look at environmental or socio-economic factors on their own. They rarely combine both into a single probabilistic framework that might give warning in complicated and uncertain situations. This constraint is especially clear in Vietnam, where intense subtropical rain, steep and extensively dissected mountainous terrain, and quick changes in land use and infrastructure are the main causes of landslides and debris flows. This research introduces a novel approach using a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) to enhance landslide-risk prediction through the integrated analysis of environmental and socioeconomic data. The developed BBN model incorporates inputs from diverse sources, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and field survey observations. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to align the BBN with established relationships between landslides and influencing factors. The analysis explored different scenarios by combining rainfall intensity with land-use patterns and assessing the protective role of embankments. Results indicate that precipitation exceeding 130 mm over a period longer than three days markedly increases the likelihood of landslides and debris flows, particularly in agricultural regions. Gabion embankments were found to be highly effective in mitigating risks to both human safety and built environments.

Calophyllum spp. infusions are used to treat varicose veins, hemorrhoids, and hypertension. However, the chemical composition and mechanisms of action are poorly understood. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the phytochemical composition and vascular effects of hydroalcoholic extracts of Calophyllum longifolium. Phytochemical profiling was performed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS). Extract effects on rat aortic rings and aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were evaluated using wire myography and photometric measurement of intracellular Ca2+, respectively. UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS revealed the presence of coumarins, xanthones, flavonoids, triterpenes, and phenolic acids. Coumarin-resveratrol hybrids, such as gut-70 derivatives, were also abundant. In aortic rings from normotensive rats, C. longifolium induced a biphasic vascular response whereby low concentrations (1 μg/mL) produced significant vascular relaxation, whereas high concentrations (100 μg/mL) produced contraction. Blockade of ATP-sensitive (KATP) or voltage-gated (KV) potassium channels attenuated these effects. Furthermore, effects were not observed in preparations preincubated with L-NG-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) or in endothelium-denuded rings. In aortic VSMCs, extracts (1 µg/mL) rapidly reduced sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ content. This study provides the first UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS chemical profile of C. longifolium, revealing diverse bioactive metabolites. It is also the first to demonstrate that C. longifolium exerts an endothelium-dependent, nitric oxide- and Ca2+-mediated biphasic effect on vascular function. Taken together, these findings highlight C. longifolium as a potential novel source of vasculotropic phytopharmaceuticals.

Abstract The Champernowne distribution is a little-known generalised logistic distribution, useful for modelling data defined on the whole real line, where it can model both leptokurtic and playtkurtic data. We present a similar distribution, the GGL distribution, which also fits data well, but is much more tractable and so has a broad range of uses. The distribution function is simple, and hence so is random number generation and the computation of quantiles and expected shortfall. We describe the properties of the new distribution, and show that it fits long-tailed data comparably to the t-distribution, with the advantage that all moments and the moment generating function exist. It can also fit short-tailed and even bimodal data, enabling a parametric test for bimodality.It also yields a test of goodness of fit for logistic regression, a generalised version of logistic regression, and a generalised growth-model.

Abstract Blowouts are geomorphic features formed through the interplay of aeolian processes, vegetation cover and anthropogenic disturbance. Although the basic dynamics of airflow over blowouts under unidirectional winds are relatively well understood, fine‐scale airflow patterns under bi‐directional wind regimes remain poorly characterised. This study investigates airflow dynamics within a small trough blowout located in the coastal dune system of Canet‐en‐Roussillon (SE France), where foot traffic has modified the original morphology. Wind data were collected using 26 anemometers deployed across and within the blowout, capturing spatial and vertical variations during both offshore and onshore wind events. The blowout exhibits a bifurcated morphology that alters airflow asymmetrically: offshore winds are steered oblique to the shoreline and sustain acceleration along the main axis (pattern [c]), whereas onshore winds generate more parallel flow, resulting in deceleration and turbulence (pattern [a]). This contrast gives rise to distinct internal flow structures, flow bifurcation under offshore winds and widespread near‐surface disturbance under onshore winds. A shallow, disturbed near‐surface flow develops within the blowout, constrained vertically by blowout dimensions, and decoupled from the more coherent higher and above‐blowout flows aligned with the incident wind. Peak velocities for both wind directions are observed in the constricted throat region (pattern [b]), though classic jet flow does not develop, likely due to bifurcation and throat morphological constraints. These findings highlight the sensitive coupling between blowout morphology, wind regime and anthropogenic alteration in shaping airflow behaviour within a small trough blowout.

Under the current global biodiversity crisis, there is a need for automated and noninvasive monitoring techniques that can gather large amounts of data cost-effectively at various ecological scales, from local to large spatial scales. These data can then be analyzed to inform stakeholders and decision-makers. One such technique is passive acoustic monitoring, which is commonly coupled with automatic identification of animal species based on their sound. Automated sound analyses usually require the training of sound detection and identification algorithms. These algorithms are based on annotated acoustic datasets which mark the occurrence of sounds of species inside sound recordings. However, compiling large annotated acoustic datasets is time-consuming and requires experts, and therefore, they normally cover reduced spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales. This data paper presents WABAD, the World Annotated Bird Acoustic Dataset for passive acoustic monitoring. WABAD is designed to provide the public, the research community, and conservation managers with a novel and globally representative annotated acoustic dataset. This database includes 5047 min of audio files annotated to species-level by local experts with the start and end time and the upper and lower frequencies of each identified bird vocalization in the recordings. The database has a wide taxonomic and spatial coverage, including information on 91,931 vocalizations from 1192 bird species recorded at 72 recording sites in 29 recording locations (mainly countries) and distributed across 13 biomes. WABAD can be used, for example, for developing and/or validating automatic species detection algorithms, answering ecological questions, such as assessing geographical variations on bird vocalizations, or comparing acoustic diversity indices with species-based diversity indices. The dataset is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license that permits redistribution and reuse on the condition that the original work is properly credited.

Academic integrity remains a key challenge in higher education. At Teesside University, increasing cases of plagiarism, collusion, and contract cheating highlighted the need for more engaging and educationally grounded interventions. In response, the English Language Centre (ELC) designed and delivered a two-part initiative integrating gamification and inclusive pedagogy to reframe integrity as a participatory academic literacy rather than a compliance exercise. The programme combined a large interactive lecture introducing core integrity principles with a practical workshop developing paraphrasing, quoting, and summarising skills. Kahoot! was embedded throughout as a gamified learning tool that fostered participation, inclusivity, and real-time feedback. Across 26 Embedded Academic Literacies (EAL) sessions, the initiative engaged 620 students from all five Schools. Anonymous feedback showed that over 90% of participants found the sessions useful and reported increased understanding, frequently describing them as “informative,” “interactive,” “engaging,” and “fun.” Participants also demonstrated a 25% reduction in average similarity scores compared with previous cohorts, indicating measurable improvement in integrity-related practices. Staff observed that engagement and responsiveness declined when institutional access to Kahoot! was temporarily lost, reinforcing its pedagogical value. This short communication presents a case study of this innovation, drawing on routine anonymous feedback and staff reflections to illustrate how gamification can enhance academic integrity education in inclusive, diverse settings. The findings suggest that framing integrity as an interactive literacy, supported by game-based participation, can increase engagement, confidence, and ethical academic practice across disciplines.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to use a bivariate functional principal component analysis (bfPCA) to quantify hip-knee joint movement patterns and assess their relationship with power clean performance. Thirty strength-power athletes completed a one repetition maximum (1RM) power clean test where hip and knee joint angle data from the heaviest successful lift were recorded and analysed using bfPCA. Three principal components were extracted, primarily reflecting variability in hip joint angle throughout the pull (pattern 1), knee joint angle at the starting position (pattern 2), hip-knee joint motion from the middle of the first pull through to the end of the second pull (pattern 3). Correlation analyses revealed no significant or meaningful correlations between power clean performance and patterns 1 or 2 (r = −0.10 and 0.04, p = 0.60 and 0.85, respectively), suggesting that inter-individual differences in starting position may not negatively impact power clean performance. However, pattern 3 was weakly but significantly correlated with power clean performance (r = 0.39, p = 0.03), with higher-performing lifters displaying movement patterns characterised by a more upright torso at the power position and a more controlled, prolonged first pull. These findings suggest that coaches focus on these aspects of the movement to potentially maximise power clean performance.