NIHRDataInsights/HRCSData huggingface dataset:
Title: SPECTRUM: Shaping Public Health Policies to Reduce Harm (Shaping Public hEalth poliCies To RedUce harM)
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: This grant is funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) which is administered by the Medical Research Council on behalf of the UKPRP’s 12 funding partners: British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK; Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; Economic and Social Research Council; Health and Social Care Research and Development Division, Welsh Government; Health and Social Care Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland; Medical Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council; National Institute for Health Research; The Health Foundation; The Wellcome Trust. The SPECTRUM consortium aims to generate new evidence to inform the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) caused by unhealthy commodities in the UK and beyond. Through developing research in partnership with an extensive network of key organisations and the public, our vision is to transform policy and practice to encourage the adoption of healthy environments and behaviours. With a principal focus on tobacco and alcohol, two leading preventable causes of NCDs driven by unhealthy commodity producers, our work will extend as SPECTRUM develops to encompass other commercially driven diseases and harms. Our research will be coordinated through eight integrated Work Packages (WPs) focusing on: (1) using systems to understand determinants and address harms; (2) addressing corporate conduct and influence; (3) developing and integrating new data sources to inform action; (4) conducting economic analysis to inform policy and practice; (5) shaping the environment to change behaviour and prevent harm; (6) evaluating the effectiveness of policies and natural experiments; (7) reducing inequalities including mental health; and (8) building governance for health equity. Each WP will involve empirical research underpinned by the systems approaches developed in WP1 and 2. SPECTRUM brings together a multi-disciplinary team of leading researchers from ten Universities; the main NGO, professional and policy groups working on tobacco and alcohol in the UK, including many with a focus on inequalities and wider determinants of health; industry partners contributing new data and methods; and an independent advisory board of international experts. We will ensure that the public play a key role in our work through established engagement methods and new approaches such as citizens' juries. The proposed research programme will also inform prevention efforts internationally, through our extensive global networks including in low and middle income countries, where commercially-driven NCDs are primary threats to future global health.


Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: State-of-the-Art Workshop: complex risk-benefit analysis
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT) are the “gold standard” for the assessment of comparative clinical effectiveness of health technologies and an important method for collecting economic data. The use of RCTs is critical to inform policy decisions to ensure that effective health technologies are adopted into current practice. In order to make these policy decisions, information is needed on multiple aspects of the treatment, this includes the effectiveness of the primary health outcome, safety and cost. This multi-dimensional approach to decision making reflects that taken by patients in practice when offered different treatment choices. Often, a new treatment will not improve all three of these elements and therefore a benefit-risk assessment (BRA) is required to evaluate the net clinical benefit of the new treatment and whether this is worth implementing in practice. This evaluation occurs often within the pharmaceutical industry where regulators weigh up the benefits of a drug against its harms. However, to extend this to the health technology setting, it is important that costs are also considered. When testing against treatments already in current practice we could be asking “what level of clinical outcome is acceptable to be lost for a reduction in side effects/costs?” Such an evaluation can be carried out using a BRA which has the benefit of being weighted for patient preference of the trade-off available for example the acceptable of less benefit for less harm. There are some signs that recent work in this area has begun to influence practice. However, guidance is limited and does not fully meet the needs of funders and researchers. The overall aim of this study is to provide consensus-driven guidelines for the trial design for superiority and non-inferiority trials. The specific objectives are to: 1. Provide guidance on when it is appropriate to use superiority and non-inferiority trial designs, 2. Critically evaluate the methods of BRA appropriate for both superiority and non-inferiority, 3. Provide guidance on which methods of BRA are most appropriate for superiority and non-inferiority trial to provide optimal trial design


Research activity codes: 6.9 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (TREATMENT EVALUATION);8.2 HEALTH AND WELFARE ECONOMICS;8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE;8.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Collaborative network for adolescent nutrition and health in sub-Saharan Africa and India
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Adolescence (10-19 years of age) is a critical stage for physical, cognitive, psychological, social and economic development. Of 1 billion adolescents worldwide, half are in LMICs characterised by poor quality nutrition and rising rates of non-communicable disease (NCDs). Investment in adolescent nutrition has the potential to benefit adolescents themselves, their adult health, and the health of their children. Despite its importance, research into adolescent nutrition has been relatively neglected. There are large knowledge gaps about the nutritional status and nutritional behaviour of adolescents, how these change during adolescence, and how they influence growth, neuro-development, later disease risk and the health of the next generation. The drivers of adolescent diet and activity, and how these could be modified to benefit health, are poorly understood. We have formed a network of researchers in the UK, India and different regions of sub-Saharan Africa with the expertise to carry out large-scale nutrition research among adolescents. Its long-term vision is to 1) conduct in-depth studies of diet, nutritional status, body composition and physical activity among adolescents and how these change through adolescence; 2) understand the factors that determine diet and activity behaviour; and 3) develop and test context-specific interventions to improve adolescent nutrition. In preparation for this work, the pump-priming application is to 1) consolidate the network by holding two workshops; 2) train early-career researchers in qualitative research methods and collect pilot data on diet and activity behaviour in adolescents; 3) review existing data on adolescent nutritional status and policies for adolescent nutrition in the countries represented; 4) conduct secondary analyses using data from existing cohorts to examine how nutrition relates to adolescent growth and NCD risk markers; and 5) design the future project and submit a major grant application in 2018.


Research activity codes: 3.3 NUTRITION AND CHEMOPREVENTION
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: ManGO: Manchester Global Omics Initiative for Nutritional Health
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: This project links research groups at the University of Manchester to LMIC partners in India and South Africa, connecting key aspects of nutritional and clinical sciences. We will advance new areas where nutritional research can play a major future role in LMIC settings, aiming to establishing a close integration of the health informatics, omic technologies and systems biology approaches that are specific strengths in Manchester. The proposed 12-month developmental plan will focus on extending existing networks and creating new ones, and on defining and refining the key research questions to be addressed. We will also undertake pilot work to develop the necessary tools and to ensure that the proposed topics are feasible for future major grant applications, especially in the 'Global Challenges Research Fund' arena. Clinical areas of relevance The potential range of relevant clinical areas is extremely wide; therefore, an initial set of focus themes with major LMIC health impacts has been identified, based on the expertise of our international collaborative group and the clinical issues confronted in LMICs. These are: -Nutrition in pregnancy and early development; childhood growth -Nutrition and infectious disease -Nutrition and emerging non-communicable diseases Activities and Deliverables As this is a 12-month developmental application, undertaking significant hypothesis testing or interventional studies is not intended. The proposal is to (a) to undertake exchange and networking/training events with international colleagues; (b) to develop the integrated methodologies needed for nutritional and dietary assessment in global settings, alongside compatible platforms for health and bioinformatic datasets; (c) undertake small proof-of-concept studies to test that the interactions and technological applications will succeed logistically and technically; and (d) generate pilot data in each of these areas to underpin next-phase joint grant applications.


Research activity codes: 3.3 NUTRITION AND CHEMOPREVENTION
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: MICA: Creating an open access knowledge hub of nutritional biomarkers for use in global health settings
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Malnutrition, in all its forms, directly affects one in three people globally making malnutrition, together with diet, by far the biggest risk factors for the global burden of disease. This is especially acute in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where under- and over-nutrition often coexist, creating a dual-burden of disease within the same setting. To advance understanding of links between diet, nutrition and health in LMICs and to develop and evaluate evidence-based programmes, detailed understanding of nutritional status is required. Existing, community-based studies and surveys from LMIC settings often lack detailed data on individual and population-level nutritional status to inform on policy. This leads to a knowledge gap to describe the nutritional vulnerabilities in these population groups and hence inform on the design of novel interventions. Modern methods to measure nutritional status have moved away from single nutrient assays requiring large sample volumes and sophisticated equipment towards 'multiplex' approaches where groups of analytes can be measured in small volumes or on more appropriate matrices, such as dried blood spots. A critical barrier to applying these novel methodologies in LMIC contexts is a lack of easy to access information on their availability and utility and a lack of technical support for the required platforms.Through this application, we aim to bring together expertise in nutritional biomarkers, to create a freely available, online resource to support the accurate and detailed assessment of nutritional status in populations from LMICs. This work will pave the way for the development of centres of excellence in nutritional assessment methodologies in LMIC settings. Supported by a network of academic, technical and industry experts, these centres will support academic and programmatic research, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between diet, nutrition and health.


Research activity codes: 3.3 NUTRITION AND CHEMOPREVENTION
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Development of nutritional strategies for diabetes prevention in Malawian adults at high diabetes risk
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: In Malawi (and wider SSA) diabetes is exerting an increasing public health burden, with age-standardised death rates 5 times higher than high-income countries (HIC). This risks overburdening fragile health systems and has important economic consequences. The Malawian diabetes phenotype differs from that seen in HIC, occurring at lower BMI and high despite high physical activity (PA). Thus standard diabetes prevention interventions of weight loss and increased PA are unlikely to be effective. It is vital to develop effective diabetes prevention strategies for the Malawian context. Low muscle mass/strength and chronic inflammation are both strongly linked to increased risk of diabetes, and are likely important contributors to diabetes risk in Malawi, where muscle mass/strength are low and exposure to infection/inflammation is high. Thus nutritional strategies to increase muscle mass and reduce systemic inflammation, by increasing protein intake and reducing the inflammatory potential of the diet, may be effective for diabetes prevention in Malawi. Our long-term aim is to develop and implement effective and pragmatic large-scale nutritional interventions to prevent diabetes in Malawi. The current proposal will adopt the 6SQuID approach to begin developing new nutritional diabetes prevention intervention(s) as follows: 1) assessing links between nutritional intake/status, and physical/metabolic/inflammatory phenotype in Malawian adults at high diabetes risk; 2) assessing nutritional practices and diabetes knowledge in Malawian adults at high diabetes risk to identify areas amenable to change; 3) working with a key stakeholder network to develop potential theories of changes and identify how nutritional interventions may be delivered in Malawi. In future proposals we will finalise intervention development and test feasibility, acceptability, short-term effectiveness; before ultimately undertake robust, long term evaluations of the most promising intervention(s).


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Interdisciplinary interventions for stunting and wasting in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Pakistan
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Undernutrition underlies almost half of all child deaths and has educational, economic and health impacts. We focus on stunting and wasting, which are in need of new interdisciplinary solutions. We aim to strengthen UK-LMIC partnerships,engage interdisciplinary expertise, and conduct a long-term programme of research in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Pakistan with three aims. Aim 1 is to understand the determinants of undernutrition to identify new targets for intervention. Aim 2 is to evaluate new multisectoral approaches to prevent stunting and treat wasting. Aim 3 is to develop skills to turn science into practice, so that new interventions are scaled up effectively. We will use this grant to strengthen links with each country, build more south-south cooperation and conduct four interdisciplinary pilot projects to identify new approaches to undernutrition. First, we will hold a meeting that will discuss the risks and benefits of livestock ownership for stunting. A 'One Health' approach to undernutrition could generate solutions at the interface of animal, human and ecological health. Second, we will work with social scientists to evaluate the attitudes, behaviours and capabilities of mothers whose children are recovering from SAM. Strengthening the capacity of mothers to look after their children might help to deliver a package of care after discharge from hospital to improve long-term outcomes. Third, we will explore whether high-dose vitamin D is a promising strategy to improve recovery of children with SAM. We will measure 25-hydroxyvitamin D by ELISA in 590 children to see whether vitamin D status is independently associated with morbidity, mortality and nutritional recovery. Finally, we will conduct a pilot study to treat maternal depression using a community-based intervention to assess feasibility, acceptability and efficacy for mothers in rural Zimbabwe. This would form part of a multisectoral intervention for stunting reduction in our long-term programme.


Research activity codes: 2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS;8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Capacity building in dietary monitoring and public health nutrition in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Countries
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: High quality food composition and food intake data are essential to underpin research into the links between diet and health and to enable effective dietary monitoring and policy development. Most Eastern Mediterranean Region countries use international food composition tables that include foods consumed in western diets with different nutrient composition. Some of these data from other countries are outdated and do not reflect the composition of foods currently consumed in EMR countries, meaning that calculated nutrient intakes are inaccurate. Methods of measuring dietary intake also need to be up-to-date and use appropriate food information. This project will provide technical and scientific support for researchers (mainly food and nutrition experts) in LMIC countries in the EMR. The project will provide training in the use of improved standardized methods for production and management of food composition and food intake data and also identify appropriate biological markers of food nutritional value and measurements of health outcomes. Training workshops and exchanges between EMR, UK and possibly European experts will review status and support development of regional food composition databases using European and International Standards. Dietary monitoring methods and use of biomarkers for intake validation, and public health nutrition will also be reviewed for use in LMIC. Existing data and current plans for producing data will be reviewed and harmonized sampling and analysis protocols produced. A network of expertise aimed at ensuring sustainability and producing a regional database will be established. The project will enable more efficient use of better quality, region specific, food composition and intake data for research, monitoring and policy development. This will benefit LMICs by providing data and tools that can encourage reduction of sugar, saturated fat, trans fats and salt and thereby reduce the incidence of diet related disease.


Research activity codes: 2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: UK-Africa network to improve the nutrition of infants and young children living in poverty (NINO LIP) in urbanising subSaharan African countries
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Globally, >25% of children under the age of five years are stunted. Currently only 22% of Kenyan and 8% of Malawian children aged 6-23 months receive the minimum acceptable diet. Approximately one-third of urban residents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) live in slums, with an additional 100,000 moving in daily. Slum children are more likely to suffer from under-nutrition than other urban children. Nevertheless evidence-based interventions to improve infant and young child (IYC) health/nutrition in slums are lacking. We will form a Loughborough University-led interdisciplinary network with partners in Malawi, Kenya, Southampton and Sheffield with the aim to produce evidence to drive future research and inform policies to improve the nutritional status of IYC living in poverty in sub-Saharan African countries (SSA) experiencing rapid urbanisation. The network has four main objectives:1) Prepare a rapid review documenting current evidence on nutrition-specific/sensitive interventions for improving the nutrition of IYC who are receiving complementary foods in the context of rapid urbanisation for the urban poor in SSA; 2) Convene the first network workshop (to include stakeholders) to a) Guide secondary data analysis, b) Consider the current evidence base/policies identified in the rapid review, and c) Apply the DELPHI method with stakeholders to identify highest-ranking evidence/research gaps for improving IYC feeding programmes/policies; 3) Undertake secondary data analysis of existing African demographic and health surveys and preexisting data from slums in Nairobi to explore how various drivers of IYC feeding practices are influenced by urbanisation and to consider whether those drivers vary for the urban poor compared to other urban populations; and 4) Facilitate endof-project workshops to a) Develop research proposals informed by evidence from the first three objectives and b) Present and discuss findings with local policy-makers and stakeholders.


Research activity codes: 8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Creating a West African BioResource for Nutritional Genetics and Epigenetics
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Global open access to research is strongly encouraged as a means to maximise the return on investments for investigators, participants in medical research and funders. Based on an extraordinarily rich set of nutritional cohorts, databases and the Keneba Biobank we will team up with researchers in Bristol to 'professionalise and externalise' these resources with a special emphasis on driving new collaborations using our genes-in-action (recall-by-genotype) paradigm that allows highly efficient research on the impact of genetic and epigenetic variants on nutritionally-mediated disease processes. The initial work based around the cohorts led by the Nutrition Theme at MRCG will be extended first to additional biobanks at MRCG Fajara and at IRESSEF Dakar through our the West African Global Health Alliance (WAGHA). We will additionally create a toolbox that can be adapted for uptake by other LMIC institutions.


Research activity codes: 1.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (UNDERPINNING)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE