{"title":"Management of knee osteoarthritis using bone marrow aspirate concentrate: a systematic review.","authors":"Filippo Migliorini, Marco Pilone, Jacopo Ascani, Luise Schäfer, Madhan Jeyaraman, Nicola Maffulli","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae016","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae016","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint condition and a major cause of disability in the general population.</p><p><strong>Source of data: </strong>Recent published literature identified from PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Scopus.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>Orthobiological therapies try to regenerate articular cartilage and stop the progression of the degenerative lesion. Intra-articular injections of biological derivates have been increasingly used in the last decade.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>The indications for the use of bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) are still unclear.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>We systematically reviewed the current literature on BMAC in the management of knee OA, giving an update on the current indications for the selection of the ideal patient and the preparations and efficacy of BMAC compared to other biological alternatives.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>BMAC is a valuable source of mesenchymal stem cells, offering potential benefits in attenuating the inflammatory pathway associated with knee OA. Intra-articular injection of BMAC has shown effectiveness in clinical trials improving functional outcomes of knee OA patients. The superiority of BMAC over other orthobiological treatments cannot be assessed because of conflicting results.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142589232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brendan Dempsey, Ira Madan, Sharon A M Stevelink, Danielle Lamb
{"title":"Long COVID among healthcare workers: a narrative review of definitions, prevalence, symptoms, risk factors and impacts.","authors":"Brendan Dempsey, Ira Madan, Sharon A M Stevelink, Danielle Lamb","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae008","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Long COVID (LC) occurs when people experience symptoms for weeks, months or even years after a COVID-19 infection. This review looks at research exploring the LC definitions, prevalence, symptoms, risk factors, and associated impacts in research on healthcare workers (HCWs).</p><p><strong>Data sources: </strong>We systematically searched five electronic databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, PsycInfo and PubMed) and compiled a narrative literature review based on 56 relevant studies.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>LC is prevalent among HCWs who become infected by COVID-19. Many of the most frequent symptoms associated with LC in the general population are also reported among HCWs. Some risk factors for LC are also similar to those in the general population, such as female sex, older age, and having a pre-existing respiratory illness.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>The mechanism(s) responsible for LC remains unknown. A variety of terms, timeframes and symptoms are used to define LC, creating difficulties in comparing results across studies. Much of the research is cross-sectional and fails to explore the impacts that prolonged symptoms have on HCWs' personal and professional lives.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>The need to support HCWs with LC is clear. Identifying the mechanism(s) responsible for LC is a key priority, as this will inform treatments.</p><p><strong>Areas for developing research: </strong>Future research should move towards a standard definition for LC. Greater attention should be paid to longitudinal and qualitative studies, which could give insights into prognosis, lived experience and work participation. Finally, studies evaluating treatments suitable for people with LC are timely.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"16-35"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11436955/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142054942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Management of acute severe ulcerative colitis-an update for generalist and specialist clinicians.","authors":"Anish J Kuriakose Kuzhiyanjal, Jimmy K Limdi","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae006","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) is a potentially life-threatening medical emergency that occurs in up to 25% of patients with ulcerative colitis. Although intravenous corticosteroids remain the cornerstone of therapy, 30-40% of patients will not respond and need timely consideration of rescue therapy with (currently) either infliximab or ciclosporin or indeed colectomy, underscoring the importance of multidisciplinary care to ensure favourable outcomes for patients. We discuss the current evidence and present an approach to the management of ASUC for general and specialist clinicians caring for patients with ASUC.</p><p><strong>Sources of data: </strong>The information in this review is derived from data published in peer- reviewed academic journals and registered clinical trials.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>Management of acute severe colitis requires a multidisciplinary approach with early initiation with steroids and timely escalation of treatment to either medical rescue therapy or surgery.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>Balancing the risks of delayed surgery vs. optimizing medical therapy, including accelerated dosing schedules for biologics, remains ambiguous.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>The position on newer molecules like Janus Kinase inhibitors, such as tofacitinib, is a growing area with early real-world data showing promise for steroid refractory ASUC.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>Developing predictive biomarkers and clinical risk scores for personalized rescue therapy selection is an evolving area of research.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"3-15"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141186321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pharmacological management of secondary chronic spinal cord injury: a systematic review.","authors":"Filippo Migliorini, Federico Cocconi, Luise Schäfer, Francesco Simeone, Madhan Jeyaraman, Nicola Maffulli","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae009","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Spinal cord injury (SCI) may bring lifelong consequences for affected patients and a high financial burden to the health care system.</p><p><strong>Source of data: </strong>Published peer-reviewed scientific articles identified from EMBASE, Google Scholar, PubMed and Scopus.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>Surgery and blood pressure management are the main targets in acute SCI to avoid secondary damage.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>The management of secondary chronic SCI is challenging, with unpredictable outcomes.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>Given the lack of consensus on pharmacological therapy for acute and secondary chronic SCI, the present study analyses the currently available drugs and treatment options to manage secondary chronic SCI.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>Different approaches exist for the pharmacological management of secondary chronic SCI. One of the most investigated drugs, 4-aminopyridine, improves central motor conduction and shows improvement in neurological signs. Positive results in different areas have been observed in patients receiving the anti-spastic drugs tizanidine and baclofen or Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. Growth hormone showed only minimal or no significant effects, and the therapy of secondary chronic SCI with riluzole has been poorly researched to date.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"49-68"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142119024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tribute to Norman Vetter.","authors":"Nicola Maffulli","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldae013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":"151 1","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142341988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effectiveness of digital interventions for self-management of chronic pain in employment settings: a systematic review.","authors":"Holly Blake, Wendy J Chaplin, Alisha Gupta","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae007","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Chronic pain affects over a quarter of the workforce with high economic burden for individuals, employers and healthcare services. Access to work-related advice for people with chronic pain is variable. This systematic review aims to explore the effectiveness of workplace-delivered digital interventions for the self-management of chronic pain.</p><p><strong>Source of data: </strong>MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, JBI, Open Science Framework, Epistemonikos and Google Scholar. Articles published between January 2001 and December 2023 were included. Searches were conducted between October 2023 and December 2023.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>Workplace-delivered digital interventions to support self-management of chronic pain at work may improve pain and health-related quality of life in vocationally active adults. Delivering interventions outside of clinical services, through the workplace setting, may help to reduce inequity in access to work-related advice for people with chronic pain, and ultimately reduce the burden on individuals, employers and healthcare services. Interventions include mobile apps and web-based programmes.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>Studies were moderate-to-low quality. Most studies focused on exercise, few considered other aspects of pain self-management. Given the limited evidence in the current literature, consensus on best intervention format and delivery is lacking.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>More high-quality studies are needed given the heterogeneity in study design, interventions and outcome measures.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>No interventions included advice on work-related adjustments or support. Few studies included work-related outcomes, despite the known impact of pain on work and work on health.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"36-48"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11436954/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141554187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mind the implementation gap: a systems analysis of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to increase the number of doctors trained in the UK raises many questions.","authors":"Una Geary, Martin McKee, Katie Petty-Saphon","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae002","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The National Health Service (NHS) in England is facing a workforce crisis. A new Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) seeks to address this, setting out ambitious proposals to expand and reform domestic medical education and training in England. However, there are concerns about their feasibility.</p><p><strong>Sources of data: </strong>In September 2023, over 60 individuals representing medical education and training in the UK participated in an exercise run by UK Medical Schools Council by using systems theory to identify risks.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>The UK does need more 'home grown' doctors, but the LTWP has important gaps, including lack of attention to postgraduate training, absence of reference to the need for more educators and capital investment and risk of inadequate clinical placement capacity, particularly in primary care settings.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>There are unresolved differences in the understanding of a proposed medical apprenticeship model and no scheme has, as yet, been approved by the General Medical Council. Participants were unable to determine who the beneficiaries of this scheme will be (apart from the apprentices themselves).</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>While the LTWP represents a welcome, although overdue, commitment to address the NHS workforce crisis, we identified significant gaps that must be resolved.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>First, the development of the LTWP provides a case study that adds to literature on policymaking in the UK. Second, while we only examined the expansion of medical training, the method could be applied to other parts of the LTWP. Third, a prospective evaluation of its implementation is necessary.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11180547/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139717310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thomas Alway, Rachel Bastiaenen, Antonis Pantazis, Leema Robert, Rhoda Akilapa, John Whitaker, Stephen P Page, Gerald Carr-White
{"title":"The development of inherited cardiac conditions services: current position and future perspectives.","authors":"Thomas Alway, Rachel Bastiaenen, Antonis Pantazis, Leema Robert, Rhoda Akilapa, John Whitaker, Stephen P Page, Gerald Carr-White","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae003","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Over the last two decades, inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) centres have emerged with the aim of improving outcomes for patients and their families, through early diagnosis, genetic testing, risk assessment and specialist treatment.</p><p><strong>Sources of data: </strong>A literature search was performed using PubMed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). Commissioned ICC service reviews from NHS England, NHS Improvement and PHG Foundation were evaluated.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>ICC patient management requires a multi-disciplinary approach. ICC services are predominantly based within tertiary centres. Despite expansion, provision of care remains inadequate to meet rising demands. Access to services is inconsistent, partly due to geographic variation and lack of standardized pathways.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>The optimal ICC care model remains undecided, although there is growing interest in 'hub-and-spoke' networks, which could aid secondary and tertiary service integration and repatriation of care.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>Genetic mainstreaming is a priority for the Genomic Medicine Service Alliance. The benefits of telehealth and virtual clinics have been validated by their use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other innovations to improve resource efficiency, such as clinical scientist-led and nurse-led clinics, show promise.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>An update for the NHS ICC service specifications is planned that appears well timed given the rapid evolution of the ICC landscape in the decade since last review. This has the potential to address needs including national audit, standardized pathways and ICC networks to improve governance and equity of care. Delegation of commissioning for specialist services to integrated care systems may also provide opportunity for increased regional direction.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"11-22"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139943870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Juliet Hassard, Mehmet Yildrim, Louise Thomson, Holly Blake
{"title":"Disclosing non-visible disabilities in educational workplaces: a scoping review.","authors":"Juliet Hassard, Mehmet Yildrim, Louise Thomson, Holly Blake","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae004","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>a sizable proportion of the working population has a disability that is not visible. Many choose not to disclose this at work, particularly in educational workplaces where disability is underrepresented. A better understanding of the barriers and facilitators to disclosure is needed.</p><p><strong>Sources of data: </strong>this scoping review is based on studies published in scientific journals.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>the reasons underpinning disclosure are complex and emotive-in-nature. Both individual and socio-environmental factors influence this decision and process. Stigma and perceived discrimination are key barriers to disclosure and, conversely, personal agency a key enabler.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>there is a growing trend of non-visible disabilities within the workplace, largely because of the increasing prevalence of mental ill health. Understanding the barriers and facilitators to disability disclosure is key to the provision of appropriate workplace support.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>our review shows that both individual and socio-environmental factors influence choice and experience of disclosure of non-visible disabilities in educational workplaces. Ongoing stigma and ableism in the workplace, in particular, strongly influence disabled employees' decision to disclose (or not), to whom, how and when.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>developing workplace interventions that can support employees with non-visible disabilities and key stakeholders during and beyond reasonable adjustments is imperative.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"23-41"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11180548/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140027420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The role of cultural competency training to address health disparities in surgical settings.","authors":"Roberto Mora, Mervyn Maze","doi":"10.1093/bmb/ldae005","DOIUrl":"10.1093/bmb/ldae005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Disparities in health care delivered to marginalized groups are unjust and result in poor health outcomes that increase the cost of care for everyone. These disparities are largely avoidable and health care providers, have been targeted with education and specialised training to address these disparities.</p><p><strong>Sources of data: </strong>In this manuscript we have sought out both peer-reviewed material on Pubmed, as well as policy statements on the potential role of cultural competency training (CCT) for providers in the surgical care setting. The goal of undertaking this work was to determine whether there is evidence that these endeavours are effective at reducing disparities.</p><p><strong>Areas of agreement: </strong>The unjustness of health care disparities is universally accepted.</p><p><strong>Areas of controversy: </strong>Whether the outcome of CCT justifies the cost has not been effectively answered.</p><p><strong>Growing points: </strong>These include the structure/content of the CCT and whether the training should be delivered to teams in the surgical setting.</p><p><strong>Areas timely for developing research: </strong>Because health outcomes are affected by many different inputs, should the effectiveness of CCT be improvement in health outcomes or should we use a proxy or a surrogate of health outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":9280,"journal":{"name":"British medical bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"42-59"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140093476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}