Search

Better use of healthcare systems data, collected as part of interactions between patients and the healthcare system, could transform planning and conduct of randomised controlled trials. Multiple challenges to widespread use include whether healthcare systems data captures sufficiently well the data traditionally captured on case report forms. "Data Utility Comparison Studies" (DUCkS) assess the utility of healthcare systems data for RCTs by comparison to data collected by the trial. Despite their importance, there are few published UK examples of DUCkS. Building from ongoing and selected recent examples of UK-led DUCkS in the literature, we set out experience-based considerations for the conduct of future DUCkS. Developed through informal iterative discussions in many forums, considerations are offered for planning, protocol development, data, analysis and reporting, with comparisons at "patient-level" or "trial-level", depending on the item of interest and trial status. DUCkS could be a valuable tool in assessing where healthcare systems data can be used for trials and in which trial teams can play a leading role. There is a pressing need for trials to be more efficient in their delivery and research waste must be reduced. Trials have been making inconsistent use of healthcare systems data, not least because of an absence of evidence of utility. DUCkS can also help to identify challenges in using healthcare systems data, such as linkage (access and timing) and data quality. We encourage trial teams to incorporate and report DUCkS in trials and funders and data providers to support them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Considers official attempts to manage the press in Britain in the Houses of Parliament in the 18th and 19th centuries. • Differs from previous work in that it focuses on parliament and not the civil service. • Argues for greater awareness of pre-history of PR in Britain, following similar work in Germany and the US. This paper considers a topic that has received scant attention in the historiography of public relations: official attempts to manage the press in Britain in the Houses of Parliament in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Existing accounts of the emergence of government public relations in the UK have tended to focus on the civil service in the first half of the twentieth century, but this article sheds light on a series of earlier developments, including the allocation of seats for reporters in the viewing gallery of the Commons in 1803, the construction of dedicated Reporters' Galleries in both parliamentary chambers in 1847–52 and the creation of a Westminster Lobby in 1884. Taken together, these reforms improved journalists' access to parliament in an era in which direct governmental control over newspapers lapsed. Yet, they also allowed politicians to influence media commentary by determining who was permitted access to parliament and what type of content made its way into print. A case can thus be made that Westminster, not Whitehall, played host to the earliest official attempts to manage the media in Britain, and this has important repercussions for current understandings of public relations history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The RapidHIT® ID is a new instrument which has been designed specifically for non-technical users in non-laboratory environments, for example police custody suites or border control. The development studies presented here were performed using the AmpFℓSTR® NGMSElect™ Express STR kit with single source reference samples. The system has been successfully optimised for extraction, PCR and electrophoresis. Once optimised studies on sensitivity, in terms of DNA input template, sample repeatability and instrument reproducibility have shown that the instrument is capable of producing robust profiles within an 85min, window, using mock reference buccal samples. This work has been carried out within the validation framework provided by the United Kingdom Forensic Science Regulator and is a key stage in the validation of the RapidHIT® ID for use in custody suites within the UK criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the quality of debate surrounding the UK's 2011 electoral reform referendum as represented in the print media. It first considers how debate quality in the context of a referendum campaign may best be conceptualized. It then uses content analysis of media coverage to investigate three aspects of that debate: its quantity; the balance between Yes and No arguments; and the quality of reason-giving. It finds that the quantity of debate was comparable to other recent electoral reform referendums. Coverage was predominantly, but not overwhelmingly, hostile to change. The different indicators of the quality of reason-giving present a mixed picture. The paper concludes by considering how the analysis could be extended through further comparison with other cases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes the results of research designed to explore reporting of three indices (Corruption Perception Index, CPI; Human Development Index, HDI and the Ecological Footprint, EF) in the UK national press between January 1990 and December 2009. Reporting of the indices was assessed by: (a) the number of articles published each year mentioning the index at least once (b) a weighting of (a) allowing for the different circulation between newspapers (c) the diversity of newspapers having articles mentioning the index (using the Shannon Index). Results suggest that the EF scored highest across all three measures whereas the CPI was lowest. The EF was also more likely to be reported in terms that implied a sense of ownership as well as a concept and not just an index. Unlike the CPI and HDI, there is no single methodology for the EF with various groups having their own approach. These features appear to have aided the relative popularity of EF within newspaper reporting. Finally, there was typically little if any description within the articles of the methodology or assumptions that rest behind the indices. Hence they are usually presented as a ‘black box’ to provide authoritative support for statements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Court of Appeal''s recent decision in the case brought on behalf of JK Rowling''s young son has some important implications for the developing law of privacy in the UK (David Murray (by his litigation friends Neil Murray and Joanne Murray) v Big Pictures Limited [2008] EWCA Civ 446). Most strikingly, the court''s approach shows that the scope of potentially private information is broader than previously thought. The claim brought was for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and under the Data Protection Act 1998 (“the DPA”) and resulted from a photograph of JK Rowling''s son, taken covertly in a public place, being published in a newspaper. The decision is significant for photographers and newspaper publishers, in particular, because it suggests that more types of information, especially photographs, may be capable of protection as “private”. It does not follow, however, that this development will prejudice freedom of expression: the balance between privacy and press freedom still needs to be struck, with neither taking precedence over the other. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]