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Purpose: To report changes in adult hospital admission rates for acute ENT infections following the introduction of COVID-19-related physical interventions such as hand washing, use of face masks and social distancing of 2-m in the United Kingdom. Methods: Retrospective cohort study comparing adult admissions with acute tonsillitis, peritonsillar abscess, epiglottitis, glandular fever, peri-orbital cellulitis, acute otitis media, acute mastoiditis, retropharyngeal abscess and parapharyngeal abscess in the 1-year period after the introduction of COVID-related physical interventions (2020–2021) with a 1-year period before this (2019–2020) in three UK secondary care ENT departments. Results: In total, there were significantly fewer admissions for ENT infections (n = 1073, 57.56%, p < 0.001; RR 2.36, 95% CI [2.17, 2.56]) in the 2020–2021 period than in the 2019–2020 period. There were significant reductions in admissions for tonsillitis (64.4%; p < 0.001), peritonsillar abscess (60.68%; p < 0.001), epiglottitis (66.67%; p < 0.001), glandular fever (38.79%; p = 0.001), acute otitis media (26.85%; p = 0.01) and retropharyngeal and/or parapharyngeal abscesses (45.45%; p = 0.04). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates a sizeable reduction in adult admissions for ENT infections since the introduction of COVID-19-related physical interventions. There is evidence to support the use of physical interventions in the prevention of viral transmission of respiratory disease. Preventing ENT infections requiring admission through simple physical interventions could be of great benefit to the quality of life of patients and economical benefit to healthcare systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of this study was to report on the occurrence of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) Escherichia coli from retail chicken meat samples in the UK, with particular focus on AmpC and extended spectrum beta‐lactamase (ESBL) production and carbapenem resistance. Methods and Results: Methods from EU protocols were used for selective isolation of AmpC‐/ESBL‐producing E. coli, carbapenem‐resistant E. coli and for performing minimum inhibitory concentrations. Additional work not part of EU protocols included viable counts, detection by PCR of blaCTX‐M, blaOXA,blaSHV and blaTEM genes in ESBL‐phenotype E. coli and screening for mcr plasmid‐mediated colistin resistance. From the 313/309 retail chicken meat samples tested in 2016/2018, carbapenem or mcr plasmid‐mediated colistin‐resistant E. coli were not detected. For 2016/2018 chicken samples, 141/42 (45·0%/13·6%), 90/23 (28·8%/7·4%), 48/16 (15·3%/5·2%) and 3/3 (1·0%/1·0%) were positive for ESBL‐ and/or AmpC‐, ESBL‐ alone AmpC‐ alone and AmpC+ESBL‐phenotype E. coli respectively. ESBL‐producing E. coli were predominantly blaCTX‐M‐1. All AmpC and/or ESBL‐phenotype E. coli were sensitive to colistin, ertapenem, imipenem, meropenem, temocillin and tigecycline, applying epidemiological cut‐off values. Conclusions: A previous study in 2013/14 showed that 65·4% of retail chicken meat samples tested in the UK were positive for ESBL‐producing (mainly CTX‐M) E. coli. Since then the proportion of samples positive in the UK has dropped significantly to 7·4% in 2018. Significance and Impact of the Study: Significant reductions in antimicrobials used in the UK poultry meat sector between 2012 and 2016 may be linked to significant reductions in AmpC/ESBL‐phenotype E. coli in retail chicken between 2013/14 and 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International interest is growing in how threshold concept theory can transform tertiary teaching and learning. A facilitated practitioner action research project investigating the potential of threshold concepts across several disciplines offers a practical contribution and helps to consolidate this international field of research. In this article we show how a focus on threshold concept theory enabled tertiary teachers to work collaboratively to investigate tertiary pedagogical practices. The purpose of the article is to argue that threshold concept theory can serve as a guiding principle of pedagogical design. The article draws on findings from a research study conducted over two years by a team consisting of five practitioner researchers in four disciplines and two educational researchers who facilitated the inquiry. The act of constraining the research to thresholds, both in and across different fields, enabled the team to intensify discipline-specific insights and to explore wider cross-disciplinary links and differences. A threshold-constrained focus entailed making specific discipline, knowledge management, and pedagogic practices explicit to ourselves as individual practitioners and comprehensible enough to enable conversations with colleagues from other disciplines. As a result of the research, we argue that threshold-concept thinking enables three processes: usefully unsettling the meaning of being a disciplinary expert; providing a structured framework for both disciplinary and cross-disciplinary knowledge and learning; and intensifying insight into curricular content and teaching methods. We also provide an account of how the collaborative action research sparked fresh experiments, searches for new data, and reflections on the impact of threshold concepts on individual disciplines and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]