Challenges of research recruitment in a university setting in England.

The recruitment is an integral part of most research projects in medical sciences involving human participants. In health promotion research, there is increasing work on the impact of environments. Settings represent environments such as schools where social, physical and psychological development unfolds. In this study, we investigated weight gain in students within a university setting. Barriers to access and recruitment of university students within a specific setting, in the context of health research are discussed. An online survey on health behaviours of first year students across 101 universities in England was developed. Ethics committees of each institutions were contacted to obtain permission to recruit and access their students. Recruitment adverts were standardized and distributed within restrictions imposed by universities. Three time points and incentives were used. Several challenges in recruiting from a university setting were found. These included (i) ethics approval, (ii) recruitment approval, (iii) navigating restrictions on advertisement and (iv) logistics of varying university academic calendars. We also faced challenges of online surveys including low recruitment, retention and low eligibility of respondents. From the 101 universities, 28 allowed dissemination of adverts. We obtained 1026 responses at T1, 599 at T2 and 497 at T3. The complete-case sample represented 13% of those originally recruited at T1. Conducting research on students within the university setting is a time consuming and challenging task. To improve research-based health promotion, universities could work together to increase consistency as to their policies on student recruitment.

Health-related quality of life and tuberculosis: a longitudinal cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Active tuberculosis (TB) disease can impose substantial morbidity, while treatment for latent TB infection (LTBI) has frequent side effects. We compared health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between persons diagnosed and treated for TB disease, persons treated for LTBI, and persons screened but not treated for TB disease or LTBI, over one year following diagnosis/initial assessment. METHODS: Participants were recruited at two hospitals in Montreal (2008-2011), and completed the Short Form-36 version 2 (SF-36) at baseline, and at 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months thereafter. Eight domain scores and physical and mental component summary (PCS and MCS, respectively) scores were calculated from responses. Linear mixed models were used to compare mean scores at each evaluation and changes in scores over consecutive evaluations, among participants treated for TB disease and those treated for LTBI, each compared to the control group. RESULTS: Of the 263 participants, 48 were treated for TB disease, 105 for LTBI, and 110 were control participants. Fifty-four percent were women, mean age was 35 years, and 90% were foreign-born. Participants treated for TB disease reported significantly worse mean scores at baseline compared to control participants (mean PCS scores: 50.0 vs. 50.7; mean MCS scores: 46.4 vs. 51.1), with improvement in mean MCS scores throughout the study period. Scores reported by participants treated for LTBI and control participants were comparable throughout the study. CONCLUSION: TB disease is associated with decrements in HRQOL as measured by the SF-36. This is most pronounced during the weeks after diagnosis and treatment initiation, but is no longer evident after two months.

The impact of tuberculosis on health utility: a longitudinal cohort study.

PURPOSE: To estimate health utility derived from the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire and Standard Gamble instrument for persons diagnosed and treated for tuberculosis (TB) disease, those diagnosed and treated for latent TB infection (LTBI), and those screened but not treated for TB disease or LTBI over the year following their diagnosis/initial assessment. METHODS: Participants were recruited at two Montreal hospitals (2008-2011) and completed the SF-36 and Standard Gamble at baseline and at follow-up visits 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months thereafter. SF-6D health utility scores were derived from SF-36 responses. Linear mixed models were used to compare mean health utility at each evaluation and changes in health utility between participants treated for TB disease, those treated for LTBI, and those in the control group. RESULTS: Of the 263 participants, 48 were treated for TB disease, 105 for LTBI, and 110 were control participants. Fifty-four percent were women, mean age was 35 years, and 90% were foreign-born. Participants treated for TB disease reported worse health utility compared with control participants at the baseline visit (mean SF-6D: 0.69 vs. 0.81; mean Standard Gamble: 0.64 vs. 0.96). They reported successive improvement at months 1 and 2 that was then sustained throughout follow-up. Health utility reported by participants treated for LTBI and control participants was comparable throughout the study. CONCLUSION: Treatment for TB disease had a substantial negative impact on health utility, particularly during the first 2 months of treatment. However, treatment for LTBI did not have a substantial impact.

Erratum to: Freshman 15 in England: a longitudinal evaluation of first year university student's weight change.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s40608-016-0125-1.].

Freshman 15 in England: a longitudinal evaluation of first year university student's weight change.

BACKGROUND: Weight change in first year university students, often referred to as 'Freshman 15', has been shown to be a common problem in North America. Studies have reported weight gain to be between 1 kg and 4 kg over the academic year and a recent meta-analysis found a mean gain of 1.34 kg and that 61 % of students gained weight. A limited number of studies have investigated weight change in England and large scale studies are needed to understand better weight change trends and to conduct subgroup analyses. This is important in the context of rising obesity prevalence, especially as behaviours and unhealthy weight in early adulthood often remains over the lifetime. METHODS: We recruited students across 23 universities in England to complete a web-based survey at three time points in 2014-2015: beginning of academic year, December, end of academic year. Students were asked to self-report height and weight. We calculated weight change of each student between time points and conducted t-tests and pared analysis of variance to investigate the effect of time, sex and initial BMI. We also investigated weight change amongst weight gainers and in weight losers separately. RESULTS: We followed 215 students over three time points and found a mean weight change of 0.98 kg (95%CI 0.49-1.47) over a mean length of 34 weeks of follow-up. The weight change rate was not significantly different over different terms. Over 51 % of the sample gained more than 0.5 kg by the end of the academic year, with a mean gain of 3.46 kg. Female weight gainers had a significantly lower baseline weight than non-weight gaining females. Twenty-five percent of the sample lost more than 0.5 kg with a mean of -3.21 kg. Within weight losers, males lost significantly more weight than females. CONCLUSION: Our findings reinforce that the first year of university is a crucial time in the life of students during which the majority tend to gain weight. However, we also found that 25 % lost weight, indicating that 75 % of students undergo a meaningful weight change in their first year. Universities must recognise their role in promoting healthy weight maintenance.

A meta-analysis of weight gain in first year university students: is freshman 15 a myth?

BACKGROUND: Observational studies report that as students transfer from secondary school to university, there is a tendency to gain weight. This phenomenon is known as the "Freshman 15" in North America, referring to the claim that on average weight gain is 15 lb (6.8 kg) in the first year of university. Studies since 1985 have mostly found weight gains ranging from 1 kg to 6 kg. Our meta-analysis aimed to update the literature on the "Freshman 15" in the first year of university. We also aimed to explore weight gain in only those who gained weight and perform several subgroup analyses. Given adolescent weight gain is highly linked to overweight and obesity in adults, a better understanding of university student weight gain is crucial if we are to combat the rising adult obesity prevalence. METHODS: We conducted a search on six standard electronic databases (including PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo) from 1980 to 2014. Only peer reviewed articles with data from longitudinal studies were included. Screening was performed by two reviewers. The quality of papers was assessed and data extraction was done with a systematic approach. RESULTS: Thirty two studies were included and 22 studies (5549 students) were included in a pooled mean meta-analysis as they reported standard errors. The overall pooled mean weight gain was 1.36 kg (3lbs) (95 % CI: 1.15 - 1.57) over an average of 5 months. A majority of students, 60.9 %, gained weight during freshman year and these on average gained 3.38 kg (7.5lbs) (95 % CI: 2.85 - 3.92). CONCLUSION: Freshman weight gain is an issue with almost two thirds of students gaining weight. Students who gained weight, gained it at rates much faster than in the general population. Despite most universities having some health promotion policies, we denote a consistent weight gain in university students across several countries.

Effects of hypoxia-induced gill remodelling on the innervation and distribution of ionocytes in the gill of goldfish, Carassius auratus.

The presence of an interlamellar cell mass (ILCM) on the gills of goldfish acclimated to 7°C leads to preferential distribution of branchial ionocytes to the distal edges of the ILCM, where they are likely to remain in contact with the water and hence remain functional. Upon exposure to hypoxia, the ILCM retracts, and the ionocytes become localized to the lamellar surfaces and on the filament epithelium, owing to their migration and the differentiation of new ionocytes from progenitor cells. Here we demonstrate that the majority of the ionocytes receive neuronal innervation, which led us to assess the consequences of ionocyte migration and differentiation during hypoxic gill remodelling on the pattern and extent of ionocyte neuronal innervation. Normoxic 7°C goldfish (ILCM present) possessed significantly greater numbers of ionocytes/mm(2) (951.2 ± 94.3) than their 25°C conspecifics (ILCM absent; 363.1 ± 49.6) but a statistically lower percentage of innervated ionocytes (83.1% ± 1.0% compared with 87.8% ± 1.3%). After 1 week of exposure of goldfish to hypoxia, the pool of branchial ionocytes was composed largely of pre-existing migrating cells (555.6 ± 38.1/mm(2)) and to a lesser extent newly formed ionocytes (226.7 ± 15.1/mm(2)). The percentage of new (relative to pre-existing) ionocytes remained relatively constant (at ∼30%) after 1 or 2 weeks of normoxic recovery. After hypoxia, pre-existing ionocytes expressed a greater percentage of innervation than newly formed ionocytes in all treatment groups; however, their percentage innervation steadily decreased over 2 weeks of normoxic recovery.