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Examines the influence of gender in the process of statementing in special education in Great Britain. Gender and statementing advice; Gender and special school provision; Statementing advice and gender descriptions.

Seventy clients were contacted by post, approximately 2 years after receiving brief counselling in a general practice setting for mental health problems. Among the 41 who replied, clinically significant reductions in anxiety and depression achieved during the six sessions of counselling had been maintained at follow-up. Frequency of visits to the GP had reduced. Counselling was seen as a helpful intervention by 87.8% of respondents. Although some found the process was distressing, and a small proportion felt that six sessions was insufficient, the majority felt that counselling had enduring benefits which had generalised to other problem situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Television-viewing can provoke major .seizures in children who are sensitive to flickering light. Such cases are rare but probably more common than is generally realized. Fourteen such children were seen in one children's hospital in Britain during a two-year period. EEG testing with intermittent photic stimulation (I.P.S.) at varying frequencies and intensities showed that those patients who were most sensitive to I.P.S. had seizures under normal viewing conditions. Less sensitive patients had seizures when sitting very near to the screen or standing near it adjusting a flickering picture. Reasons for these associations are discussed. The formation of the television picture is described. The differences between the British and North American systems appear to be related to an apparent difference in the frequencies of television-induced seizures between the two countries. Prevention and treatment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study objectives: Normal timing and duration of sleep is vital for all physical and mental health. However, many sleep-related studies depend on self-reported sleep measurements, which have limitations. This study aims to investigate the association of physical activity and sociodemographic characteristics including age, gender, coffee intake and social status with objective sleep measurements. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out on 82995 participants within the UK Biobank cohort. Sociodemographic and lifestyle information were collected through touch-screen questionnaires in 2007–2010. Sleep and physical activity parameters were later measured objectively using wrist-worn accelerometers in 2013–2015 (participants were aged 43–79 years and wore watches for 7 days). Participants were divided into 5 groups based on their objective sleep duration per night (<5 hours, 5–6 hours, 6–7 hours, 7–8 hours and >8 hours). Binary logistic models were adjusted for age, gender and Townsend Deprivation Index. Results: Participants who slept 6–7 hours/night were the most frequent (33.5%). Females had longer objective sleep duration than males. Short objective sleep duration (<6 hours) correlated with older age, social deprivation and high coffee intake. Finally, those who slept 6–7 hours/night were most physically active. Conclusions: Objectively determined short sleep duration was associated with male gender, older age, low social status and high coffee intake. An inverse 'U-shaped' relationship between sleep duration and physical activity was also established. Optimal sleep duration for health in those over 60 may therefore be shorter than younger groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the state of orthogeriatric medicine, and the standards of trauma care for hip fracture in older people in Great Britain as of March 2016. Topics discussed include changes in the management of patients with traumatic fracture, development of orthogeriatric and fracture liaison services, and the link between orthogeriatric care and decreased mortality. Also discussed is the state of medical intervention to reduce risk in second hip fractures.

The article comments on a study regarding the availability and use of patient handling sliding devices by nurses and other health professionals in Great Britain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of sliding devices in large teaching hospitals. The author says that the wide availability of sliding devices reported in this study is encouraging. However, he believes that a training for applying the device is needed.