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Background the perceptions and experiences of care home residents and their families are important for understanding and improving the quality of emergency care. Methods we conducted a systematic review and metasynthesis to understand the perceptions and experiences of care home residents and their family members who experienced medical emergencies in a care home setting. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020167018). We searched five electronic databases, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO, supplemented with internet searches and forward and backward citation tracking from included studies and review articles. Data were synthesised thematically following the Thomas and Harden approach. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme qualitative checklist was used to assess the quality of studies included in this review. Results of the 6,140 references retrieved, 10 studies from four countries (Australia, Canada, UK and USA) were included in the review and metasynthesis. All the included studies were assessed as being of good quality. Through an iterative approach, we developed six analytical themes: (i) infrastructure and process requirements in care homes to prevent and address emergencies; (ii) the decision to transfer to hospital; (iii) experiences of transfer and hospitalisation for older patients; (iv) good communication is vital for desirable outcomes; (v) legal, regulatory and ethical concerns and (vi) trusting relationships enabled residents to feel safe. Conclusions the emergency care experience for care home residents can be enhanced by ensuring resources, staff capacity and processes for high quality care and trusting relationships between staff, patients and relatives, underpinned by good communication and attention to ethical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Intradialytic cycling (IDC), delivered during haemodialysis (HD), has the potential to improve many health issues. This systematic review and meta-analysis examine the evidence on the effects of IDC on exercise capacity, quality of life (QoL), physical function and cardiovascular health. Methods Twenty-four databases were searched alongside Internet and hand searching, and consultation with experts. Eligibility criteria were cluster randomized, randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of IDC versus usual care in prevalent adult HD patients. Primary outcome measures were exercise capacity (VO2 peak and field tests) and QoL. Secondary measures were cardiac and physical function. Results Thirteen RCTs were eligible. Eight provided data for use in meta-analyses, which indicated no significant change in VO2 peak (mean difference, MD 1.19 mL/kg/min, 95% confidence interval −1.15 to 3.52, P = 0.3), physical (mean change, MC 1.97, −8.27 to 12.22, P = 0.7) or mental component (MC 3.37, −7.94 to 14.68, P = 0.6) summary scores of the Medical Outcomes Short Form 36, pulse wave velocity (MD −0.57 m/s, −1.55 to 0.41, P = 0.4), systolic (MD −2.28 mmHg, −14.46 to 9.90, P = 0.7) or diastolic blood pressure (MD 2.25 mmHg, −3.01 to 7.50, P = 0.4) following IDC. IDC, however, leads to an improvement in performance on the 6-min walk test (MD 87.84 m, 39.60–136.09, P = 0.0004). All included studies were considered to have high risk of bias. Conclusions There is insufficient evidence demonstrating whether cycling exercise during HD improves patient outcomes. High-quality, adequately powered RCTs of IDC are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bovine colostrum is proposed as a nutritional countermeasure to the risk of upper respiratory symptoms (URS) during exercise training. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the size of the effect of bovine colostrum supplementation on URS. Methods: Databases (CDSR, CENTRAL, Cinahl, ClinicalTrials.gov, Current Controlled Trials, DARE, EMBASE, Medline, PROSPERO and Web of Science) of published, unpublished and ongoing studies were searched for randomised controlled trials of healthy adults (⩾18 years), evaluating the effect of oral bovine colostrum supplementation compared to a concurrent control group on URS. Results: Five trials (152 participants) met the inclusion criteria, all of which involved individuals involved in regular exercise training. Over an 8-12 week follow-up period, bovine colostrum supplementation when compared to placebo significantly reduced the incidence rate of URS days (rate ratio 0.56, 95 % confidence intervals 0.43 to 0.72, P value < 0.001) and URS episodes (0.62, 0.40 to 0.99, P value = 0.04) by 44 and 38 % respectively. There were limited data and considerable variation in results of included studies for duration of URS episodes hence a meta-analysis of this outcome was deemed inappropriate. The risk of bias assessment in this review was hindered by poor reporting practices of included studies. Due to incomplete reporting of study methods, four of the five studies were judged to have a moderate or high risk of overall bias. Our findings must be interpreted in relation to quantity and quality of the available evidence. Conclusions: The present systematic review and meta-analysis provides evidence that bovine colostrum supplementation may be effective in preventing the incidence of URS days and episodes in adults engaged in exercise training. The fact that the majority of included studies did not report significant effects on URS outcomes mitigates concerns about publication bias. The point estimates of the random-effects meta-analyses are greater than the smallest clinically important difference, but the low precision of the individual study estimates means the evidence presented in this review needs to be followed up with an appropriately designed and adequately powered, randomised control trial. Trial registration: Protocol was registered (CRD42015014925) on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor glycaemic control is found in diabetes, one of the most common, serious, non-communicable diseases worldwide. Trials suggest a relationship between glycaemic control and measures of sleep including duration and quality of sleep. Currently, the relationship between specific sleep stages (including slow-wave sleep (SWS), a sleep stage mainly found early in the night and linked to restorative functioning) and glycaemic control remains unclear. This systematic review aimed to synthesise the evidence of the effectiveness of specific sleep stage manipulation on measures of glycaemic control (insulin resistance, fasting and post-prandial glucose and insulin). Public databases (eg psychINFO, MEDLINE, Academic Search Complete, psychARTICLES, OpenDissertations, Scopus and Cochrane library) were searched for randomised controlled trials. Trials were included if they involved direct manipulation of SWS and/or rapid eye-movement sleep to explore the impact on measures of glycaemic control (insulin resistance, fasting and post-prandial glucose and insulin). Eight trials met the eligibility criteria, with four providing data for inclusion in one of the three meta-analyses. Insulin resistance was significantly higher in the SWS disruption when compared to the normal sleep condition, (p = 0.02). No significant differences were found for measures of fasting or post-prandial glucose or insulin. Risk of bias was considered low for performance bias, detection bias and incomplete outcome data, with unclear selection bias. This is an emerging area of research and this review provides preliminary findings and recommendations for future research around optimising sleep stage disruption (to further explore mechanisms) and sleep stage enhancement techniques (to explore potential interventions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]