NIHRDataInsights/HRCSData huggingface dataset:
Title: An exploratory randomized controlled trial of brief alcohol advice delivered in general dental practice.
Funder: Department of Health (England)

Abstract: Alcohol misuse is a significant public health problem in the UK. A strong evidence base exists demonstrating the effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions delivered in primary care settings. No trials have however been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of brief interventions delivered by dental teams in general dental practice. Excessive alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for oral cancer, oro-facial injury and dental erosion, and is therefore an important and highly relevant health promotion issue for general dental practitioners. The majority of the UK adult population visits a dentist within a two-year period. This provides a unique opportunity to deliver preventive advice to dental patients to promote both their oral and general health. Increasingly general dental practitioners ask their patients about their tobacco and alcohol habits but few dentists offer brief alcohol advice to patients who are drinking excessively. This study addresses a key public health problem where a major gap in the evidence currently exists. The aim of the study is to assess the acceptability and feasibility of delivering brief alcohol intervention to adults attending general dental practices across North Central London (NCL). Initially exploratory qualitative research (focus groups) will be undertaken with separate samples of general dental practitioners and dental patients to explore their views on the salience and relevance of providing alcohol prevention in dental practices. An exploratory randomized controlled trial will then be conducted to determine the feasibility, practicality and acceptability of delivering brief alcohol interventions in general dental practice. The pilot trial will be conducted in 10 general dental practices (randomized to 5 intervention and 5 controls) from across NCL. The primary outcome will be the score on the Extended Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire. Baseline and 6 month follow-up outcome measures will be collected from the sample of 200 participants. A process evaluation will also be undertaken to assess the acceptability of the intervention. The findings of this study will be used to inform the conduct of a definitive RCT of brief interventions in primary care dental settings.


Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: Meta and Cluster Analysis on Animal Models used or TSE Decontamination Research
Funder: Department of Health (England)

Abstract: Background: There is considerable confusion and lack of clarity on the validity of the animal model and infectious agent used in decontamination research towards TSEs. Academics use mostly a combination of a 301V prion agent and a mouse model whilst most published work by commercial researchers has used the 263K and the hamster model. Comparing and contrasting results from decontamination studies where different animal models have been used may not be valid. However, there has to date been little choice because of the time and cost of research comparing models in vivo in the absence of an available cell-based assay. There is a policy requirment to provide definitive and robust assessment of the many published trials to aid DH and the NHS in the correct selection of decontamination approaches. Aims: The Adisory Committee on Decontamination Science and Technology requested a detailed review of the literature concerning animal models used in decontamination research in order that it can provide more definite advice on this matter to others. A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis of several scientific studies that are closely related. It is used to supplement and enhance the traditional quantitative literature. By increasing the size of the “sample” and accounting for variables, it is possible to increase statistical power and hence the validity of the findings of a single study or of the collective. It can also have the reverse effect and reveal that statistical significance has been over interpreted in the collective research picture. Plan of investigation: a. Comprehensive literature search and accumulation of a pdfs of all the available literature b. Selection of studies- published and non-published results c. Selection of variables in the algorithm - Examples of such are: i. strains of TSE, ii. the animal model – mouse strains and knockout mice, hamster, guinea pig, sheep? iii. Mode of transmission – Wiessmann wire, ball bearing model, other iv. Material of study – stainless steel, ceramic, plastic, titanium, other v. Load and inoculum vi. Sample size, controls, statistical robustness d. Selection of analysis model by the expert committee. e. Production of agreed final report to DH followed by more general publication Potential Impact: A meta-analysis of the decontamination research is very timely as we move towards revision of practices and recommendations on decontamination methodologies in the NHS. Commercial and DH funded research projects are coming to commercial fruition and the capacity to critically compare these is important. In addition, it is anticipated that future research into decontamination will need to address further questions that are of a more applied nature rather than the fundamental and blue-skies research unless critical questions are revealed. A meta-analysis may provide such a focused analysis to reveal those questions.


Research activity codes: 5.3 MEDICAL DEVICES
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: Constructing alcohol identities. How young people navigate and make sense of online intoxicogenic marketing and culture
Funder: Alcohol Research UK

Abstract: Online activity, and in particular social media, represents a new marketing opportunity for the alcohol industry. Whilst the Advertising Standards Agency’s CAP code (2010), suggests that online marketing should not “imply, condone or encourage immoderate, irresponsible or anti-social drinking”, it is in the very nature of social media, however, that potential consumers are able to interact and help shape the form and content of marketing, and this lies outside of such codes. Indeed, recent marketing analysis suggests that alcohol-related Facebook pages are considered the most successful in engaging with users (Socialbakers, 2012). Alcohol consumption, related culture, and social media representations are thought to be important practices which allow young people to construct and symbolise specific and idealised identities. There has been a rapid increase in the use of social media such as social network sites (e.g. Facebook) among this population, with new technologies becoming important features of young people’s social lives. As such, online alcohol marketing is increasingly being consumed by young people, some of whom may have begun, or are beginning, to engage with a culture of heavy drinking and intoxication (Atkinson et al., 2011; Griffin et al., 2009; Livingstone, 2008; Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, 2008). In a relatively new area of investigation, the proposed research aims to understand how young people interact with the social media strategies of some of the most popular alcohol brands, and how this compares to online peer driven representations of alcohol and the reception of online health promotion. The study aims to address whether this interaction (or rejection of) helps to determine young people’s own identities and shape their understanding of alcohol intoxication and its consequences.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: Young people, alcohol packaging and digital media
Funder: Alcohol Research UK

Abstract: Alcohol marketing is a key focus for concern for alcohol and public health researchers because of growing evidence that it is a determinant of uptake and frequency of drinking. To date, research attention has focused on more traditional forms of marketing promotion. However, research needs to keep pace with the fast-changing, multi-platform marketing environment. Two aspects of contemporary alcohol marketing merit particular concern: packaging, and how this relates to online marketing. This research will benefit wider alcohol research and policy by exploring the way in which digital media combines with alcohol labelling and packaging to create a multi-platform marketing environment and to examine to what extent young people interact with this environment.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: A glass half full: An evaluation of the impact of organisational changes upon NHS practice and public health in relation to alcohol
Funder: Alcohol Research UK

Abstract: The purpose of the research is to evaluate the impact of the changes brought about by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (e.g. the creation of Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) and Clinical Commissioning Groups) on alcohol. The research will, for the first time, evaluate whether the changes has seen funding increase or decrease in terms of alcohol treatment services. It will also examine whether alcohol prevention is a priority for local authorities or clinical commissioning groups. .


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: A new approach to measuring drinking cultures in Britain
Funder: Alcohol Research UK

Abstract: When a UK government proposes changes to alcohol policy, public debate often focuses on the likelihood of changes in the nation’s drinking culture. However, what that culture is, which aspects of it require change and what an acceptable drinking culture would look like are typically poorly described. The proposed study uses novel statistical data on the characteristics of British drinking occasions to develop a numerical description of the characteristics of the different types of drinking occasions which make up the nation’s drinking culture. It will also explore how occasions vary between different social groups to establish whether multiple drinking cultures can be identified. A review of literature and focus groups will inform this work. The study’s results will provide policy makers with a framework for assessing which aspects of drinking cultures are problematic, which policies may impact upon these and what the drinking cultures they desire would look like.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: Early intervention to engage alcohol and substance misusing pre-trial prisoners in appropriate health service use
Funder: Division for Social Care and Health Research (Wales)

Abstract: Alcohol and other drug misuse substantially increases the risk of early death, poor health and criminal behaviour. We have found that over 40% of men newly arrived in Welsh prisons to await trial are alcohol-dependent. Many also use illicit drugs. Three-quarters of these men had been imprisoned before. About 25% get medication to reduce immediate distress and/or an appointment with a counselling, assessment, referral advice and throughcare (CARAT) worker. Community-based studies have shown that such treatment has no long-term benefits, but adding psychosocial help may do. Both UK National and Welsh Assembly Governments have emphasised their committment to providing more effective treatment for alcohol and drug dependency, to help individuals and to reduce NHS costs, but does psycho-social treatment work for prisoners? We propose to test the idea that educational and motivational groups for such substance dependent men, added to the ususal prison regime, will increase their sense of being able to control their substance use compared with the regime alone, and bring other benefits. Improved sense of control has, elswhere, been linked to long-term behaviour change. We can do this by inviting such prisoners to join a study in which they would be randomly chosen to follow the ordinary prison regime alone (including periods of association with other men, visits, exercise, medication for symptoms) or to do this and also go to 9 educational, motivational and skill building groups over three weeks. Their sense of personal control over substance use and mental state would be evaluated before and after the groups (or an equivalent time of ordinary regime alone). Other observations will include ability to make a personal plan. We anticipate that improved sense of control and planning would be associated with reduced use of emergency health services, improved health and reduced offending, but this would require longer-term study.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: Developing and evaluating interventions for adolescent alcohol use disorders presenting through emergency departments
Funder: Department of Health (England)

Abstract: PROGRAMME SYNOPSIS: UK Department of Health’s advice to children under 15 years (2009) is to abstain from alcohol due to risks of harm, and 15-17 year olds are advised not to drink, but if they do drink it should be no more than 3-4 units and 2-3 units per week in males and females, respectively. In contrast, alcohol use is increasing in adolescents in the UK: the average amount consumed by 11-15 year olds doubled in the last 13 years to 2007. Adolescents in the UK are now amongst the heaviest drinkers in Europe. Excessive drinking in adolescents is associated with increased risk of accidents, injuries, self harm, unprotected and regretted sex, violence and disorder, poisoning and accidental death. Early drinking in adolescence is associated with intellectual impairment and an increased risk of more serious alcohol problems in later life. Methods of alcohol screening and early intervention have been developed for adolescents in the USA, and show evidence of benefit, but have not been studied in the UK. Further these methods have several shortcomings including not providing screening and intervention methods appropriate to the age and developmental stage of the younger adolescent. This research aims to address the gaps in the evidence base on alcohol screening and intervention by targeting younger adolescent emergency department (ED) attenders. The research will be conducted in 3 related stages: first the prevalence of alcohol consumption and problems related to alcohol in adolescents will be studied in 10 typical EDs in England, and the methods used to identify at risk adolescents will be evaluated. The second stage will develop and pilot different screening and intervention approaches to assess feasibility and acceptability. The final stage is an exploratory clinical trial of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of alcohol screening and intervention in younger adolescents in ED. This research will have important implications and impact both on the way adolescent drinkers are managed in ED, and on the prevention of future alcohol-related harm in this population through targeted early interventions. Outputs from the research will include age appropriate screening and intervention methods for use by NHS staff, including training packages and methods. The research team is highly experienced in addiction research and has recently completed a similar programme of research in adults in ED and other health and criminal justice settings for the Department of Health.


Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING;4.4 POPULATION SCREENING
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: All in the mind?' The effect of beliefs about alcohol on alcohol binges
Funder: Alcohol Research UK

Abstract: This project will investigate whether beliefs about the acute effects of alcohol influence drinking behaviour in the laboratory and in naturalistic settings. We know that an initial priming dose of alcohol causes increased alcohol seeking (the alcohol priming effect), although the mechanisms driving this process are relatively unknown. Recently, research into self-control has suggested that beliefs about our own ability to control behaviour are central to behavioural regulation. This suggests that if people expect to have reduced ability to control their drinking after an initial alcoholic drink they will behave accordingly. The proposal consists of an experiment that will investigate how information that changes beliefs about the acute effects of alcohol will influence drinking behaviour in the laboratory. We will also track participants’ drinking over two weeks following the laboratory study to determine whether the manipulation of beliefs continues to influence their drinking outside of the laboratory.


Research activity codes: 1.1 NORMAL BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTIONING;1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: Enabling Research Award: Self- Help Interventions to Reduce Alcohol Consumption (SHIRAC)
Funder: Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (HSC R&D) of Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland

Abstract: This proposal follows an application to a Commissioned Call in the area of “Behaviour Change Interventions for Relapse Prevention”. A team led by dr Shorter submitted an outline proposal entitled Internet Self-Help for Alcohol Relapse Prevention (I-SHARP) and were requested to submit a full proposal. The full proposal was not selected for funding, and this application to the Enabling Research Award scheme aims to address some of the methodological feedback provided by the NETS Public Health Research Board members to prepare the proposal for resubmission in early 2015. The Enabling Research Award will provide evidence to support the research design in the UK context, and inform any changes required to facilitate resubmission after the 12 month embargo period. The proposed trial is a three arm, double blind trial which tests the Check your drinking (CYD) and Alcohol Help Center (AHC) interventions used in the full proposal against a no intervention control. One arm receives CYD, a second arm receives CYD, and arm three have no intervention but are asked to describe features of what they would consider to be effective interventions as a ‘no intervention control’. Both participants and the statistician analysing the outcomes will be blind to allocated group. The programme of research will address the following comments considered in turn below: 1. Can the interventions reduce alcohol use in the UK 2. What are the rates of recruitment using online methods and are retention rates feasible? 3. Understanding the barriers and facilitators of behaviour change through the interventions in the UK context 4. Developing the lead applicant through training and mentorship


Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING;6.6 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOURAL
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: The 2008 Botswanan Alcohol Policy: Risk, Politics and Consumption.
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Abstract: This project builds on research currently being undertaken on the interrelationships between alcohol, poverty and development in South Africa and extends them to a new geographic and political context. It does this through an exploration of the rationale, implementation and impacts of the 2008 Botswanan Alcohol Policy, which imposed a 45% levy on all liquor. Drawing on interviews and survey data, the project will examine the acts effect on the public's: i. Perceptions of the health, economic and social risks of alcohol ii. Attitudes towards alcohol control policies iii. Consumption patterns In so doing, it will generate a valuable dataset exploring the complexities and contestations surrounding alcohol control in Botswana. Given alcohol's inclusion as a risk factor for non-communicable disease and related debate over the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals, this project has clear significance for policy and practice from a local to a global scale. Most importantly, as more Southern countries implement alcohol control policies, this project offers much-needed evidence of the complex tensions between the state's duty of care to mitigate alcohol-related harms and the use of alcohol as a source of income and pleasure amid challenging socio-economic and structural conditions.


Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL
Title: Brown adipose tissue cell therapy for obesity and diabetes
Funder: Innovate UK

Abstract: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a rare type of fat that in contrast to abundant white adipose tissue does not store eneregy but burns it to generate heat. BAT mass and function is inversely correlated with obesity and BAT has also been shown to improve glucose defects observed in diabeties, above what would be expected from weight loss alone. Therefore therapies that activate BAT or increase BAT mass should have positive effects on weight loss and diabetes. However, adult humans have very little BAT and it decreases with age, therefore methods to increase BAT mass could be predicted to have more effect than activation of existing BAT. We have developed the first protocols to generate human BAT in vitro from adult stem cells derived from WAT. We propose a cell therapy whereby stem cells are isolated from WAT of individuals, converted to BAT in vitro and transplanted back to the individual for treatment of obesity or diabetes and their associated morbidities.


Research activity codes: 5.2 CELLULAR AND GENE THERAPIES
Health categories: STROKE;CANCER AND NEOPLASMS;METABOLIC AND ENDOCRINE;CARDIOVASCULAR;ORAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL