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Background: People’s personal perceptions, or illness representations, of type 2 diabetes can act as barriers to successful self-management. Introduction: Understanding patients’ subjective perceptions of type 2 diabetes can aid the design of evidence-based care and appropriate educational programmes. This scoping review provides a narrative account of previous knowledge of patients’ illness representations of type 2 diabetes. Methods: Quantitative and qualitative studies that explored patients’ illness representations of type 2 diabetes, as defined by Leventhal’s Common Sense Model, were included. Results: Thirty four studies were identified for this review, but only 14 studies were carried out in a general population of people with diabetes. Illness representations varied across study populations. While it is clear that the perceptions of ethnic minorities and marginalised groups are embedded in their historical and cultural backgrounds, it is also important to understand the views of the wider population. Conclusion: The review highlights the need for self-management interventions to reflect the target population’s representations of type 2 diabetes in order to inform interventions and clinical practice.

BackgroundThe diagnosis of lower urinary tract symptoms related to suspected bladder outflow obstruction from benign prostate hyperplasia/enlargement in men is increasing. This is leading to high demand on healthcare services; however, there is limited knowledge of differences in pharmacotherapy prescribing for this condition based on geography.ObjectiveTo investigate potential variation in drug prescribing for suspected bladder outflow obstruction in Scotland, based on analysis of publicly available data, to identify trends and inform future prescribing.Study designA longitudinal register-based data study of prescribing and patient data publicly available from Scottish registries. All information is available as monthly aggregates at the level of single general practices.Setting and participants903 (97%) general practices in Scotland, over a 50-month period (October 2015 to November 2019).Outcome measurements and statistical analysisWe analysed numbers of daily doses of drugs for suspected bladder outflow obstruction prescribed per month using a Bayesian Poisson regression analysis, incorporating random effects to account for spatial and temporal elements.ResultsPrescriptions for suspected bladder outflow obstruction medications increased during the observation period (overall average rate of change 1.24±0.28, ranging from 0.893 in Orkney to 1.95 in Lanarkshire). While some determinants of health inequality regarding prescribing practices across health boards are consistent with those known from the literature, other inequalities remain unexplained after accounting for practice-specific and patient-specific characteristics such as deprivation and rurality.ConclusionsInequalities in prescribing for suspected bladder outflow obstruction medications exist in Scotland, partially ascribable to accepted sociodemographic and geographic factors.

Redox flow batteries present unique opportunities for achieving multi-hour electrochemical energy storage at ultra-low cost. Too often, the barrier for implementing them is the unfettered migration redox active species across the ion-transporting membrane, which shorts the battery and exacerbates capacity fade. Here, we advance a new membrane platform with exceptional blocking ability for soluble polysulfides dissolved in flowable catholytes, at minimal impact to ionic conductivity. As a result, Li-S battery performance is dramatically improved, even when anode-protecting LiNO3 additives are absent.

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