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Some well-known restaurant companies are moving into sites within the City, London, England. Others are planning to open outlets near London Bridge in preparation for the completion of the Jubilee Line extension. Demand for retail outlets in the City has been rising in order to serve the increasing number of office employees who use other facilities in the City, such as bars and restaurants. Rents for prime sites are around 200 pounds sterling per sq ft but there are few larger outlets available. Some office building developers are letting out the ground floor of their buildings to retailers.

BackgroundGuidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommend that telemetry is offered to any woman who needs continuous cardiotocography in labour.MethodsAn online survey of 168 maternity units in the UK was undertaken between November 2013 and February 2014 to determine how many units in the UK offered telemetry to women in labour and in what circumstances it was used.FindingsThe response rate was 62% (n=104). Some 63% (n=65) of responding units had at least one cardiotocography machine that could monitor the fetal heart via telemetry. Telemetry was used most often for women who had experienced a previous caesarean section and respondents felt that mobility and satisfaction with labour experience were most likely to be positively influenced by telemetry.ConclusionThe survey gives an indication of how often and for whom telemetry is being used in the UK and describes the benefits that maternity units see for women using telemetry, such as increased choice and control.

'An increasing majority of consumers now view shopping as a leisure activity, so creating the right mix of catering has never been so crucial for enhancing the customer experience. Restaurant [...]

Significant opportunities are arising for private operators in the UK licensed leisure market as the largest brewers scale down their expansion plans. Innovative operators are being nurtured by landlords who wish to create an attractive mix of tenants and who recognize that these operators are willing to work very hard to create the best possible atmosphere. This trend is being seen at the Triangle, a retail restaurant and bar scheme in the centre of Manchester, England, and at the Mailbox, a mixed-use scheme on the canalside in Birmingham, England.

Strengthening the capacity of midwives and nurses in low- and middle-income countries to lead research is an urgent priority in embedding and sustaining evidence-based practice and better outcomes for women and newborns during childbearing. International and local travel restrictions, and physical distancing resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have compromised the delivery of many existing programmes and challenged international partnerships working in maternal and newborn health to adapt rapidly. In this paper, we share the experiences of a midwife-led research partnership between Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, the UK, Zambia and Zimbabwe in sustaining and enhancing capacity strengthening activities remotely in this period. Whilst considerable challenges arose, and not all were overcome, collectively, we gained new insights and important learning which have shifted perspectives and will impact future design and delivery of learning programmes.

Obese women (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2) are at greater risk than normal weight women of pregnancy complications associated with maternal and infant morbidity, particularly the development of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders in later life; why this occurs is unknown. Nonpregnant, obese individuals exhibit systemic vascular endothelial dysfunction. We tested the hypothesis that obese pregnant women have altered myometrial arterial function compared to pregnant women of normal (18–24 kg/m2) and overweight (25–29 kg/m2) body mass index. Responses to vasoconstrictors, U46619 (thromboxane mimetic) and arginine vasopressin, and vasodilators, bradykinin and the nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside, were assessed by wire myography in myometrial arteries from normal weight (n = 18), overweight (n = 18), and obese (n = 20) women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Thromboxane-prostanoid receptor expression was assessed using immunostaining in myometrial arteries of normal weight and obese women. Vasoconstriction and vasodilatation were impaired in myometrial arteries from obese women with otherwise uncomplicated pregnancies. Disparate agonist responses suggest that vascular function in obese women is not globally dysregulated but may be specific to thromboxane and nitric oxide pathways. Because obesity rates are escalating, it is important to identify the mechanisms underlying impaired vascular function and establish why some obese women compensate for vascular dysfunction and some do not. Future studies are needed to determine whether central adiposity results in an altered endocrine milieu that may promote vascular dysfunction by altering the function of perivascular adipose tissue.